The InJen Menance
by Anthony67
Summary: We've all see a number of fan-fics where humans are trapped in Zootopia but what happens when Zootopians get trapped in our world? A fourteen year old boy will learn just that when he meets everyone's favorite bunny cop while on a hunting trip. But things turn bad fast as bullets start flying. Soon they and the friends they'll make will be put to the test.
1. the begining

Anthony's POV

He was walking along a game-trail listening to the snow crunch under his feet. He had his hunting rifle in his hands with his senses on high alert since there was still two hours before sun rise and he could barely see a thing. He had no problems navigating the game-trail since it was a path he used often it was the easiest way to get to the field where he hunted even though it added an hour to his travel time. He had been walking for three hours and was still tired so when a gust of wind hit him it caused him to shiver, he groaned and wrapped his ghillie blanket (which he had pinned to himself like a cloak) a little tighter around himself.

A few minutes later he noticed the darkness ahead of him softening signifying a thinning of the trees ahead so he reached into one of his cargo pockets and grabbed a flashlight. After a moment of searching he found what he was looking for a hollowed out oak tree next to a wall of thorns he shrugged off his duffel bag and stuffed it into the tree. He turned off his flashlight and put it back in his pocket and continued walking keeping the wall of thorns to his right.

It only took a few seconds before he entered the edge of the field. The field was roughly a hundred yards wide and a hundred fifty yards long and was one of a the few breaks in the sea of trees that covered the Rocky Mountain Range that didn't include a cliff. He was walking along one of the shorter sides of the field this side had a solid wall of thorns starting at the edge of the field and went ten to twelve feet into the forests and ran nearly the whole hundred yards that made up this side of the field. About half way along the wall was a six foot by six foot area that had been cleared of thorns Anthony affectionately referred to this area as the 'Knoll' he had cleared it out so he'd have a vantage point of the whole field and so that he'd be protected against predators on three side by walls of thorns. Thankfully the thorn bushes were hardy so that like the trees around them they lost their leaves each winter but didn't die. And thankfully that there was only one tree on the field (a large oak which had been split in half by a lightning strike a few months ago.) so he had a clear view of nearly the whole field.

He had to be careful when he entered the Knoll because he had laid a tree in front of the opening. (He had put it there so that he had a little extra cover and so that he had a place to rest his rifle.) And since the Knoll was sloped if he tripped over it he'd roll right into the thorns that made up the back wall. But the slope was nice since he could sit straight up in the very back and not be seen from the field. So as he walked along the wall of thorns he kept careful count of his foot steps so he would know when he reached the Knoll. When he thought he had gone about fifty yards he bent over and groped around like blind man to find the tree and then awkwardly climbed over it when he found it. He cleared out a small trench in the snow behind the log so he could lay down on dirt instead of snow, he placed his rifle on the log spreading his ghillie blanket out around him, and got comfortable getting ready for the long wait that came with hunting.

...

Thanks to the Knoll, his ghillie blanket, his full body hunters winter camouflage, and the chemicals he used to kill his scent he was completely invisible to most all animals just like he wanted to be. But what he didn't know was he was also completely invisible to the man who entered the field an hour later. The man set up a hundred yards in front of Anthony right by the fallen remains of the only tree in the field. Like Anthony the man wore a full body camouflage hunting suit; but unlike Anthony this man had military grade weapons and body armor and a pair of night vision goggles. He also didn't know that the man wasn't there to hunt the rabbits that lived in the field. And that he very well could be the only thing standing between this man and his prize.

Judy's POV

She sat glaring at her partner and best friend Nicholas Wilde from across the table of the café they were eating lunch at. It had been a month since Nick had graduated from the police academy. She had been so proud of him especially since he done it at the top of his class. But right now she would like nothing more than to slap that stupid smug little grin right off his muzzle.

"Come on Carrots calm down it's not that big of a deal. Today is like every other day it's going to be boring and nothing's going to happen. Beside I'm a nocturnal mammal what do you expect?" Nick said with his usual swagger.

"No Nick it is a big deal." She said sternly trying to get her point across. "You can't sleep in the cruiser let alone while on patrol. And I don't care that your a nocturnal mammal you _need_ to stay awake while on duty. And if you can't then go to bed earlier or drink an energy drink or something. Cause what happens if something does happen and your asleep _Huh?"_

"Carrots if something happened I'd wake up when you turned on the siren or you'd wake me up yourself so It's not a problem." Then Nicks smile grew. "Besides Carrots your a good enough cop for the both of us. I mean you can take down rhinos. If something happened you'd have it done and over with before I even got out of the car. I mean you are super bunny after all."

_"Nicholas!"_ She snapped not bothering to keep her voice low causing the tod's ears to lie back against his head and gaining the attention of others in the café. "This is serious! What happens if I don't know your asleep and I have to jump out of the car then and there to give chase to a criminal or stop a crime in progress?! Cause if that happens I'm not going to waste time turning on the siren! What'll wake you up then huh?! Cause that is exactly what happened this morning with that purse snatcher! You were asleep and I had to chase him down _by myself!_ And it was only luck that I caught him without anyone getting hurt! And yes I can take down a rhino but that doesn't mean one lone mammal can't kill me! Especially if they're armed! Or have some kind of training or they simply get lucky!" Now Nicks eyes were wide he was leaning away from her as she yelled at him looking horrified. He opened his mouth to speak but she rolled right over him. "And what if there's a group?! I may be good Nick but there is only so much I can handle on my own. A large enough group of mammals could rip me apart with just their paws! They wouldn't even need weapons and if all of them or even a few of them had weapons the chances of me winning by myself go from slim to none!" Nick just stared at her in open mouthed horror. The look on his face was enough to tell her that she had gotten her point across. She pushed back her chair pulled out her wallet put down enough money to cover her part of the meal and looked at Nick lowering the volume of her voice but not losing any of the venom in it and said. "Think about that next time you want to sleep while we're on patrol." Then she turned and stormed out of the café bristling with anger she could feel everyone's eyes on her as she did but she didn't care.

She stormed out and went straight to their police cruiser jumped in the drivers seat and waited for Nick to catch up while staring fixedly out the windshield. After about five minutes she looked back at the café to see what was taking him so long. When she looked through the café window she saw one of her oldest sisters Samantha (who owned and ran the café with her husband) lecturing Nick while brandishing a metal spoon threateningly at him with one paw on her hip. And by the look on Nick's face said she was making him feel thoroughly ashamed of himself. Judy couldn't help but give a dark smile at that, first she had scared Nick now her sister was making him feel ashamed of himself. That was a very potent combination so some how she didn't think Nick was going to sleep on patrols anymore.

A few minutes later Nick got in the cruiser with ears laid back and a look of shame still plastered on his face. She started the cruiser and continued along their assigned patrol route in Savannah Central. It took Nick a few minutes to speak but finally he did.

"Look Judy I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking you were right." Nick said guiltily.

"Good just remember everything me and Samantha said today got it?" She responded icily getting a nod in return. She had to admit that part of her felt guilty for making him feel bad, but she was tired of it. At first she had tried to be nice about him sleeping on patrol but he wouldn't listen. He had slept on every patrol that week and nearly got them into trouble half a dozen times. And her having to take down the purse snatcher by herself because he was asleep was the last straw. So if this is what it takes to make sure he shapes up it was worth it.

...

An hour into their patrol Clawhauser came over the radio saying._ "Nick, Judy do you read me?"_

Nick reach over and grabbed the radio from the dash and said with his usual confidence. "We hear you loud and clear spots. What do you need?"

_ "We received multiple reports of loud strange noises coming from an abandoned warehouse a few blocks away from you."_ Then Clawhauser laughed. _"Get this one of the guys who called it in said it sounded like there was a thunder storm inside the building."_

Both Judy and Nick exchanged confused looks before Nick responded. "Alright we're on the way there now." Nick put the radio back then he gave her his usual half-lidded smirk saying. "Ten Zollars says it's just some kids playing around."

She gave him a cold look not ready to let him off the hook just yet. As she returned her attention out the windshield she saw his face fall out of the corner of her eye.

"So Carrots how long are you going to give me the cold shoulder?" Nick asked cautiously.

"At the very least for the rest of the day." She said in a cold matter-a-fact tone.

...

Ten minutes later they pulled up in front of the warehouse in question. She put the cruiser in park, rolls down the window, and sticks her head out of the window twitching her ears in all directions trying to pick up every tiny sound. She heard nothing but distant traffic.

"You hear anything carrots?" Nick asked.

"No. Nothing." She responded shaking her head.

"Hey Spots we're at the warehouse but Carrots doesn't hear anything." Nick said over the radio as she pulled her head back into the cruiser looking at him. "Are you sure that this is the right place?"

_ "Hold on Nick I'll double check give me a sec... Yes Nick you are in the right place."_ Clawhauser said. _"It was probably just a prank call. So weather or not you investigate further is up too you."_

"Alright thanks big guy." Nick says then he looks up at her and asks. "So Carrots what do you want to do?"

She looked back at the warehouse thinking that Ben was right it probably was just a prank call. But it didn't hurt to double check. She reached for the radio pressed the button and asked. "Ben did you happen to listen to the 911 recording with the guy talking about a thunderstorm by any chance?"

_ "Yea I did. Why?"_ Clawhauser responded.

"If you had to guess on how old the mammal that called it in was what would you say?" She asked.

_"Well if I had to guess I'd say... early to mid thirty's."_ He answered. _"Why?"_

"Think about it Ben. How likely is it that a mammal that age would make a prank call?" She shoots a pointed glare at Nick when he opened his mouth undoubtedly to make a snide remark. Her look made him think twice.

_ "Ooh I see you mean. The only exceptions would be if they were drunk or if they were Nick."_ He finished with his high pitch laugh and Nick looked smug, like Clawhauser had just said exactly what he had wanted to say.

Rolling her eyes at Nick she said. "Thanks Ben."

_"No problem Judy. And don't forget you have a date with me and Fru Fru tomorrow"_ He said excitedly.

With a small smile she said. "Don't worry Ben I remember. Besides you and Fru Fru wouldn't let me forget it even if I wanted too."

_"You know it bun-bun!...**CLAWHAUSER! Stop gossiping over the radio I told you to have those reports in my office an hour ago! Are you going to do your job or am I going too have to make you run laps around the precinct?!**... N-no Chief! I-I'm on it right now Chief I'll have those reports up to you shortly! Sorry Judy I've got to go!"_

Judy let out a giggle while Nick smiled shook his head and said. "Wow Buffalo-butt must be pissed if he's threatening Spots with exercise." Then Nicks ears perked up like he just got a gift and asked. "Did Spots just call you 'bun-bun'?"

She groaned then saying. "Yea he heard my mom call me that and now-" She cut herself off and glared at Nick with such intensity he started to squirm. "If I ever hear you call me 'bun-bun' I'll-"

"No worry's I'll stick with 'Carrots' I value my life to much." Nick said holding up his paws in surrender with a nervous smirk.

"Good." She said hopping out of the cruiser. "Come on Wilde lets go check this place out." She purposely said 'Wilde' instead of 'Slick' or 'Nick' to subtly remind him that he was still in trouble. And by the way he quickly jumped out and scampered next to her he got the point.

They walked up to the warehouse and when they reached it she knocked on one of the large sliding metal doors and shouted. "This is the ZPD open up!" Getting no response she repeated herself. Still getting no answer she nodded to Nick signaling him to slide open the door. They both walked in paws on their tranquilizer pistols. As they began their search they both kept their senses on high alert trying to catch the slightest sound or scent that would warn them of danger. After a few minutes of searching her ears locked on to a strange buzzing sound.

"You hear something Carrots?" Nick asked in a tone barely more than a whisper.

"Yeah. It's a low buzzing sound like someone's using a large amount of electricity in one area." She said just as quietly.

Nick took a few of quick sniffs of the air then said looking confused. "Yeah and the air smells like it too. But that doesn't make sense." She gave him her own confused look so he continued. "Carrots look at how old this place is. I'd bet my next ten paychecks that this place hasn't been connected to the power grid in years."

Following her ears and Nicks nose they ended up in front of a large metal door. Drawing their tranq guns She nodded at Nick to open the door. They both entered the room with their tranq guns held level in front of them. But the room was completely empty there was nothing in the room. The only thing that stood out in the room was on the wall opposite of them. It was a large jagged crack in the wall but what caught her attention was that unlike a the rest of the wall which was a dull red the crack was pure white but more than that it was glowing and it was obviously the source of the buzzing sound. They crossed half of the room then she stopped and just stared at the crack. It made her feel really uneasy.

But Nick kept slowly walking towards it saying. "What the heck is that?"

"Nick don't get too close we don't know what it is." Then she pulls out and speaks into her radio. "Ben we found something."

_"Wait. What?"_ Clawhauser said sounding surprised. _"What do you mean you found something? What did you find?"_

"Well...Uuh...There's a crack in a wall." Then she quickly said. "Which would mean nothing except it's a large, it's glowing, and I'm hearing a very loud electrical buzzing sound from coming from it. The sound's not coming from anywhere else in the room -or anywhere else in the building for that matter- it's only coming from the crack." After a moment of hesitation she added nervously. "And there's something about it that just doesn't feel right." When She said this Nick froze. He tried to act otherwise but she could tell he was listening.

_"What do you mean 'It doesn't feel right'?"_ Clawhauser asked.

She stared at the crack and shuddered. "I don't know... it's like it's looking at me. And my instincts are telling me to run." Nick shot her a glance then continued towards the crack. She looked down as Clawhausers response came over the radio.

_"Umm...Ok just hold on Judy I'll ask the Chief what you should do."_ Clawhauser said.

She looked back up to see Nick standing right next to the crack. "Nick get away from it we don't know what it is or if it's safe."

"Don't worry Carrots I'm not going to touch it. But we need to figure out as much about it as we can." She watched as he touched the wall around the crack, scratched it, sniffed it, even pressed his ear up against it. She watched nervously as he tested both sides of the wall. But he was very careful not to touch the crack and to give it a wide birth when he walked in front of it.

After a minute or two Nick stepped back saying, "Hmm..." looking confused.

"What is it?" She asked.

Nick glanced at her then looked back at the crack crossing his arms saying. "Well there's nothing in the wall it's solid brick. Even though we both can hear and smell the large amount of electricity running through that crack. That much power should be heating up the wall around it like crazy but the wall is stone cold. With that much noise the wall should be vibrating with the sound waves but there's barely any movement. And with how strong the electric sent is coming from that thing the wall should be saturated with the smell especially since the smell is coming from a crack in the wall. But only the very surface has the smell."

"So what does that all mean?" She asked now very confused. "What are you trying to say Nick?"

Throwing his arms up in exasperation Nick looked back at her saying. "What I'm trying to say Carrots is that we can see, hear, and smell that thing. But that thing isn't even apart of the wall. And it's leaving basically no physical evidence of any kind." He looked back at the crack tossed his arms in exasperation again and said in a quieter voice. "It's...It's like it doesn't even exist. As if it's not even real."

If she thought she was unnerved before it was nothing compared to how she felt now as she looked back at the crack. It felt like it was smiling at her taunting her. She jumped slightly when she heard her radio.

_ "Hopps report."_ Came Chiefs Bogo voice.

After repeating what she told Clawhauser she added. "And Chief Nick just got done checking out the sections of wall around the crack. He says that the crack isn't even apart of the wall that. And even though we can see, hear, and smell it. It's not leaving any physical evidence like it's not even there."

She waited for a moment in silence before the Chief answered. _"Hopps, Wilde secure the scene I'll bring a forensic team to your position. Don't touch it and keep your distance. If what your saying is true it might not be safe and I don't have time to fill out the paperwork that comes with either of you having to stay at the hospital understood."_ This made her smile the Chief cared deeply about his officers but hid it to keep his reputation as the ZPD's number one force to be reckoned with.(One he had earned with good reason)

"Understood Chief." She said. She looked up at Nick who was staring at the crack like it was the most interesting puzzle he'd ever found. He bent over and scooped up a hand full of rocks. "Nick what are you doing?"

"We need to know how it reacts when something touches it." He said and continued holding out his paw full of rocks. "And since I don't want to touch it I figured rocks would be a good test." He started throwing the rocks. After the fourth rock Nick hesitated and she knew why, all four rocks hadn't made a single sound not one and there was no reaction from the crack as they hit it. She watched as he threw two more one slightly too the right of the crack and one slightly too the left. Both hit the wall with a solid 'CRACK' before clattering to the floor. And more than that when he looked he was only able to find the last two rocks the other four had disappeared.

They both stared at the crack (Judy still only halfway across the room and Nick right in front of it) then she saw Nicks paw twitch and she knew what he was going to do. But before she could do or say anything to stop him, Nick reached out and touched the crack. Nick jerked his arm back like it had been burned. And the crack started to ripple like it was made of water. But she ignored this as she ran too Nick to make sure he was okay. He was holding his arm cursing she grabbed his arm and inspected it. There was some singed fur and a few burns on his paw and lower arm but otherwise the crack didn't seem to do any real damage. Now that she was sure he'd be okay she punched him as hard as she could right in his injured arm.

"Ow! Carrots what was that for?!" Nick asked angrily.

"That." She said furiously. "Is for doing something stupid. Again!" She then pulled out her radio again. "Chief can you also send an ambulance please."

_"Why?"_ He asked cautiously with an edge to his voice.

"Because Officer Wilde decided it was a good idea to touch the crack." She said in a measured tone.

_"*Sigh* How badly is he injured."_ By the Chiefs tone she could just see him pinching the ridge between his eyes.

"He has some minor burns on his paw and lower arm but otherwise he's fine." She shot him another dirty look then added. "For now."

_"Alright I'll call for an ambulance. Me and the forensic team will be there shortly. And Hopps don't kill Wilde it would be a shame to lose two officers in one day. Besides _**I**_ want to deal with him."_

Judy put her radio back in her belt and turned to lay into Nick for the second time that day. When a hissing\crackling sound reached her ears she turned and looked at the crack. The crack was slightly wider and looked like the surface of a pond in a rain storm and it was sending off sparks. Before either of them could react it sent out a bolt of lightning striking the wall to her right causing them both to jump. They turned and ran but neither of them made it past the door. The crack started sending lightning in every direction, the crack grew wider till it was as wide as she was tall, and the sound it gave off became got so loud her sensitive ears were screaming out in pain. But that's not what stopped them the crack began sucking in large amounts of air like a massive vacuum cleaner. The suction was so powerful that both her and Nick were parallel to the floor the only reason they weren't sucked in was because Nick was holding onto the door for dear life while she was holding onto the door frame opposite of him.

Nick hooked his good arm around the door knob and reached for his radio. "This is Officer Wilde, me and Officer Hopps need help at our location immediately!" He yelled sounding just a step away from completely panicking.

_"Wilde what's going on?!"_ Came the Chiefs voice from the other end sounding more intense than usual.

"Bogo the cracks gotten bigger, it's sending off bolts of lightning, and is trying to suck us in! Me and Judy are barley hanging on!" Nick yelled.

_"You and Hopps hang in there Wilde. I'm almost there!" _The Chief commanded.

All she or Nick could do was hang on for dear life. She lost track of time as she listened to the constant ear splitting hum and cracking coming from the crack. But then she saw a large hoof wrap around the door frame near Nick and watched Chief Bogo pull himself into view. And it was immediately clear that even the massive cape buffalo was struggling against the force of the crack. Seeing that she was in more danger of losing her grip than Nick was, Bogo moved to get her first. But as he shifted his weight one of the door hinges next to him gave way. She watched in horror as the Chief just barely managed to grab Nick's arm as the second hinge broke and the door got sucked into the crack and disappeared. She watched as the Chief strained to pull Nick to safety once he was Bogo turned his attention to her. But the force of the crack kept getting more and more intense and she stared to slip.

"Reach out to me Hopps!" Bogo yelled above the noise reaching as far out too her as he could while he kept his back pressed flat against the wall trying not to be suck into the room. She made a quick grab for his hoof and missed. As she did she felt her other paw holding onto the door frame slip.

She quickly grabbed the door frame again and yelled. "I can't!"

"You've got to try Judy!" Nick yelled.

"Trust me Hopps!" Bogo said with sincerity. "Reach out and grab my hoof!"

She trusted the cape buffalo with her life so she did as he asked. She reached out and her paw closed around the very end of his hoof but before either of them could get a good hold her other paw slipped off the door frame. Bogo made a mad grab for her but missed. She screamed at the top of her lungs as she fell straight towards the crack. the last thing she saw was the Chief's and Nick's horrified faces as they shouted her name. Then all she could see was white, pure white. She couldn't move or even make a sound. All she could do was feel the large amounts of electricity passing through her body. This went on and on but for how long she couldn't tell she just silently prayed that it would end.

Then all at once it did. She was still seeing white but this was different this white was glittering. And while she was groggy she could feel the cold. It was the cold that helped her clear her head, She slowly got to her feet her whole body aced but the pain was starting to fade. Once she was standing she looked around and realized she was in standing alone in a large snow covered field surrounded on all sides by trees and mountains. in front of her was an oak tree that looked like it had been split in half behind her was the edge of the field and a wall of thorns. She was still trying to figure out where she was and how she got there when there was sudden movement behind her. She turned to see a strange large white creature appear out of the snow and run at her. Her ZPD training kicked in she didn't even bother with her tranq gun but instead reached for her firearm ready to shoot and kill this creature that was running straight at her.

Anthony's POV

The sun was well into the sky. And he was still laying in the snow trench he had made in the Knoll covered by his ghillie blanket with his rifle resting on the log in front of him. The morning had been uneventful he hadn't seen even the slightest movement. Which was odd since the field should be teeming with rabbits which is what he came here to hunt. He should be able to see rabbits moving all over the place even this early in the morning since rabbits like most animals went to sleep at dusk and woke up at dawn. The only thing he could think of on why he hadn't seen any rabbits was that something nearby had spooked them. He knew it wasn't him since he had effectively killed his sent first thing before he left his camp this morning and even if he hadn't he was down wind of the field. And he knew for a fact the there was no way anything not even another human could see him from the field. So the question was what had spooked them?

Then he could feel every hair on his body stand on end. He took a beep breath and realized the air tasted like Ozone. He started hearing a crackling sound like a downed power line but he couldn't see where the sound was coming from. The sound quickly grew in volume till his ears stared to hurt he covered his ears and ducked his head when a bolt of lightning struck the ground a few feet from him. He kept his head as low as he could while still being able to see over the log. The lightning and the noise only grew in intensity he stated to consider making a run for it but be for he could move a bolt of lightning struck him in the forehead.

He stiffened and he felt like his body was going to explode. Even though it couldn't have lasted more than a second it felt like hours. His body aced and his vision was blurry at first but he was fine after a few seconds. He continued watching the lightning and after a few minutes he saw a small blue and grey object appear about five feet in the air and eight feet in front of him. Then all at once the lightning and the sound stopped. He laid there starring at the blue and grey thing in the snow debating whether or not to go take a look at it when it started moving. He watch wide eyed as it started to stand.

"No way." He whispered then rubbed his eyes and looked back seeing but not believing. "There's no way. _No way!_ This is real."

Standing not ten feet in front of him was a rabbit. But not just any rabbit it was officer Judy Hopps of the ZPD. The main character of one of his favorite movies, a movie he's seen a hundred different times. There was no way she was real but there she was the hero of Zootopia looking just as confused as he felt. He was still trying to process that this was real when he saw it. A flash from one of the sections of oak tree a hundred yards away. It was a flash he'd seen a million times it was the flash made when sunlight glances off the lens of a scope. It all fell together he wasn't the only human in the field that's why he hadn't seen any rabbit their sent gave them away and spooked all the rabbits in the field. And he didn't think they were here to hunt if they were they would have hidden their sent. His stomach fell into the ground as he realized whoever this was obviously could see Judy and more then likely tell who she was and they were going to kill her. He reacted on instinct he jumped up from his hiding spot and bolted towards her moving as fast as he could. It was only eight feet but it would still take a few seconds to get to her and that's all the time the other guy would need to kill her.


	2. Fight or Run

**Chapter 2**

Judy's POV

She managed to draw her pistol and squeezed off a round but the bullet went wide as the creature tackled her. At the same time she heard three more shots in the distance and felt as well as heard the bullets as they passed her ears. All the air exploded out of her lungs as the full weight of the creature landed on top of her. And just as quickly it was gone. But before she could react in anyway she felt the front of her uniform constricted and then she was airborne.

She didn't have time to do anything but give a shallow gasp before she hit the ground and was tumbling down a steep slope. She managed to stop herself a little over halfway down. Then she reached up with a paw and grabbed her chest trying to catch her breath. She only took a few gasping breaths before the sound of gunfire caught her attention. She turned towards the sound just in time to see the creature jump over a log at the top of the slope and slide feet first a little to the right of her as more bullets flew by. She watched as the creature grabbed what looked like a some kind of tranq rifle stood up put it to it's shoulder looked through the scope and pulled the trigger. She flinched and laid her ears down at the resulting bang and realized that it was some kind of firearm. She watched as the creature slid back a bolt and a spent shell fell to the ground. As the creature pushed the bolt back into place it took a step forward dropped to one knee brought the rifle back up and fired. It slid the bolt back and forth then fired again with the rifle never leaving it's ready position before it laid flat on it's back against the slope a foot or so from her looking up the slope and pulled the bolt for a third time.

She was surprised on just how quickly the creature did all of this. And was even more surprised to hear a masculine voice come from the creature, a young voice but obviously male. "Your not the only one with a rifle asshole." It said in a low mutter. And now that she got a good look at it she realized that it...no he wasn't really white but was covered from head to toe in some kind of snowy camouflage with a pattern of dead branches. It had strangely shaped paws, a strangely flat face, but it didn't seem to have a sent of any kind, and was roughly the average size for a panther and other large cats in Zootopia. And the only part of it's body not covered was a slit for it eyes revealing light flesh colored skin. And I...His eyes were a deep clear blue color almost like ice, and while his voice sounded angry she was sure she saw fear in his eyes.

He turned and looked at her and she saw his eyes fill with concern as he asked. "Are you okay?" She still couldn't believe that he actually spoke English that all she did was nod her head. Then quickly looked around taking in their surroundings before looking back to him and he said. "Welcome to the Knoll." (Knoll: has a silent k so is pronounced 'noll')

" 'The Knoll'?" She asked cocking her eye brow.

"Yeah this little area here." He said giving a had gesture to their surrounding as he slid down to the very bottom of the slope. And walked across to the left side crouched over so that one of his strangely shaped paws was always touching the ground. "I made this place. good thing too because otherwise we'd probably be dead right now." When he went as far as he could he got down and started crawling back up the slope the closer to the top he got the slower he went till he reached a gap between the wall of thorns and the log. He put his rifle in the gap and looked through the scope and started moving the rifle slowly. She kept a close eye on him the whole time with a paw on her Taser she was sure he had just saved her life so she trusted him a little but she wasn't sure just how much or how far she could trust him.

Then she heard another voice much deeper and rougher then that of the creature just feet from her. _"Hey kid I want to make you an offer."_

Her suspicious glare was met by two very confused blue eyes. "How does he expect me to answer when he's a hundred yards away?"

_ "Don't worry I can hear you loud and clear kid. So here's my offer. I was sent here for the rabbit if you hand it over and I'll let you leave unharmed. I really don't want to have to kill a kid but I will if you make me. So you hand over the rabbit and walk away and it'll be like this never happened. Is the rabbit's life really worth yours? *chuckle* I mean it is just a rabbit after all."_ Now her own eyes were wide and her gaze was locked on the pair of blue eyes staring right at her, into her trying answer if she was worth his life. She could see the fear and conflict plain as day in his eyes. Then those blue eyes suddenly hardened and became cold looking like they really were made of ice and she felt a wave of fear go through her as she was sure he had chosen to give her to the monster shooting at them. _"So what's it going to be kid? Do we have a deal?"_

Anthony's POV

He had chosen the gap on the left side of the Knoll because while it was awkward and restricted his movement. It let him aim and shoot without exposing himself and even if that psycho spotted him the gap made it hard to get a clear shot on him. After a little searching he found the man that shot at them standing behind the stump of the destroyed oak tree right between the two half's of the tree. The man was wearing winter camo just like he was but the man's seemed to be bulkier than what he was wearing. The man was also wearing what looked like a pair of white ear muffs. He realized that in order to get a clear shot on the man he'd have to be kneeling or standing which would expose him. So he laid there for a few seconds trying to figure out if he had the nerve to kill the man that would kill him or Judy without hesitation or remorse. If he even had the nerve to move from his hiding spot. then he saw the man reach down and come back up with a...megaphone? It was an actual megaphone. He was trying to figure out why someone would bring a megaphone out to the middle of no where when the man gave Anthony his offer to sacrifice Judy and save himself.

He just stared at Judy as his conscience and his instinct to survive at all cost had a war for dominance in his mind. He didn't want to die but he didn't want Judy to die either.

_'Is she really worth dying for? That guy's right she's just a rabbit.'_ A dark voice somewhere in his mind said.

**_ 'Yes she is just a rabbit but other than that there's no difference between us and her. Hell she's more human than that bastard out there and a few other people we know.'_ **Argued another voice.

_ 'Maybe but still is she worth dying for? We don't know her everything we know about her is from that stupid movie and who knows if that's even accurate. And what happens to the others if we die here? It's us who keep things running since Mom's always working and Dad died. Things will be so much worse for them if we're not there to keep things going.'_ The dark voice said nearly convincing him.

**_ 'He says he'll let us go but there isn't anyone out here to stop him from killing us once he has her. I doubt he or the people he works for will want witnesses. And if he lets us go today we become a loose end so whoever he works for will most likely send him after us tomorrow and we wont even see it coming when he kills us. And what happens if he targets the others? At least here we know where he is and we have a fighting chance.'_ **Said the other voice.

_ 'Hold it we're missing the big question here.'_ Came a third voice. _'What would she do? From what we do know about her what would she do if our roles where reversed? If we suddenly appeared in Tundra Town with a crazy animal trying to kill us and they gave her the same offer what would she do? Would she hand us over or protect us?_'

And as he stared into her eyes he realized what the answer was. He knew what he had to do, what he was willing to do to make sure both of them walked out of this alive. He also knew there was no going back not once he started down this road but he didn't care. He was determined and he wasn't going to back down. His stubbornness had gotten him in a lot of trouble more than once but it was one of the few things he prided himself on. Once he set his mind to something he kept going pushing through and working through any problems that got in his way. There had been times where he gotten himself hurt but he had kept going until he succeeded or he was forced to stop. And he had the very bad feeling he was going to need every bit of that stubborn determination before this was over and both he and Judy were safe.

And judging by the way Judy's ears have fallen and the expression on her face she'd noticed his change of mind and had come to the wrong conclusion.

_"So what's it going to be kid? Do we have a deal?"_ The man asked.

Anthony clenched his jaw the man sounded smug and confidant. It was obvious the man believed wholeheartedly the he would just hand Judy over. The man was so confidant that Anthony wouldn't dare to fight him, that he'd just runaway like a scared little kid and leave Judy to die. And he was all too happy to prove the man wrong.

He rose up onto one knee brought his rifle up and looked through the scope. He could see the man clearly still standing behind the stump and the fact that the man wasn't even watching him through binoculars or a scope proved just how confidant he was. But now Anthony had a clear shot of the man's chest. He glanced at Judy to steel his nerve took a deep breath and yelled.

"THAT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!" And pulled the trigger. He saw what looked like a large puff of air appear in the center of the man's chest as the bullet connected an instant before the man flew back with the force of the bullet. "I got him!" He said practically giddy with relief like a massive weight lifted off him. looked over at Judy and said "I got him. I got him Judy." He was so busy trying to convey that everything was going to be okay now that he didn't notice the look of shock on her face. He turned his head and looked back through the scope. "Ha ha! That was actually easier then I th-" The words died in his throat the man wasn't dead and Anthony could clearly see both the scope and the muzzle of the rifle pointed directly at him.

He threw himself sideways as the man fired but he wasn't fast enough his vision went red as he felt shearing agony rip through his upper left arm and shoulder. The pain and over whelming panic at being shot blocked out everything as they completely consumed his mind.

Judy's POV

She was still in a state of shock that the creature not only chose to fight to risk his life to protect her instead of sending her to her death saving himself. But then he had said her name. Sure the name tag on her uniform said 'Hopps' but there was no way for him to know her first name. Then she sensed a change as the feeling in the air around him went from relief to fear. She saw him throw himself towards her as more shots rang out in the same instance something warm and wet hit her in the face causing her to flinch. She wrinkled her nose as it was filled with a metallic but strangely familiar sent she couldn't quite place. She quickly wiped her paw across her face and held it in front of her to see that it was red...blood red. That's when the creature protecting her started screaming.

She looked at him in horror for a moment as he screamed and thrashed on the ground, as large red stains spread across his left side while he gripping his arm. She rushed to his side and grabbed the first aid kit she kept in one of the pouches on her belt and pulled out a syringe filled with powerful painkillers. She hesitated for a second she had put the first aid kit together herself and had done so with treating herself or Nick in mind. And while she had made sure to put enough painkillers in the kit four syringes total enough to give a mammal Nick's size two separate doses both being strong enough to send him off too La-La Land for a little while. But she didn't know if it would be enough for a mammal the size of the creature in front of her or if the medicine would even work on him. But with his next scream she quickly injected all four syringes into his thigh. (he didn't seem to even notice as she stabbed him with the needles) Then she moved up to grab his good arm and tried to calm him down. Then her ears twitched as she heard a sound over the screams and cry's a distinct sound the sound of someone running towards them and she knew that it meant only one thing.

She instinctively reach for her pawgun only to find the holster empty as she remembered that she had dropped it when she was tackled. She whipped her head back and forth trying to find a weapon because she didn't like her chances of fighting that monster with only her tranq gun and Taser. But all she could see was the rifle but it was way too big for her she wouldn't have a chance at shooting it. Then her eyes zeroed in on the right hip of her protector. There on his hip was a pawgun it was much bigger than her own 9mm Black Rabbit but she was sure that with a little effort she could use it. She quickly pulled the gun from it's holster then ran up the slope and kneeled behind the log with her ears laid down across her back. It took her a second to spot the outline of the figure running towards them she aimed and fired. The figure flinched but kept running at them. Meanwhile Judy felt like her arms had been ripped out of their sockets as the kick back from the gun was much bigger than she thought she had barely kept the gun from hitting her in the face. She widened her grip, locked her arms, and fired again. And kept firing as quickly as she could while still being as accurate as she could be with such an oversized weapon. The figure started to zig and zag to dodge her bullets as he kept running towards her and at one point the figure was knocked back as one of the shots connected but he quickly got back up and sprinted back towards the oak tree while shooting back at her. It wasn't until she felt a burning sensation on her right ear as a bullet grazed the edge of it did she realize that at some point her ears had stood straight up. She gritted her teeth laid her ears back again and kept firing until she heard a hollow click from the weapon. The figure fired a few more shots before diving behind what was left of the oak tree.

All and all she fired a total of thirteen bullets before the gun ran dry and the whole altercation had lasted no more than a minute or two. She took a long shaky breath and lowered the gun her arms were shaking strongly from the effort of firing the gun. She turned back to her protector who was still thrashing and screaming on the ground but not as strongly as before. She dropped the gun in the snow walked over and jumped onto his chest; she rapped her legs around his chest grabbed his collar with one paw so he couldn't throw her off. Then she slapped him across the face with as much force as she could muster.

Anthony's POV

He was completely unaware of everything but the pain and the panic but it was more sheer panic than anything else. He was out of it his mind didn't even register the gun shots going off around him nothing registered at all. That is until a small grey paw slapped him with more force than what should be physically possible. It was that slap that finally snapped him out of it finally broke the grip his panic had on him.

Just as he was coming out of it she grabbed both side of his face forcing him to look her in the eye. "Calm down! Alright...Calm down. I know it hurts but you need to get yourself under control, okay?" She said sternly.

He nodded back to her closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths and forced the panic into a tiny box in the back of his mind locked it and threw away the key. Now that Judy had gotten him to start thinking straight it didn't take more than a few seconds to get complete control over himself again. When he opened his eyes again the pain was still there but was slowly fading to a dull throb and the panic was quickly replaced once again by his determination, and this time it had a friend anger. He was angry a few steps short of furious that, that bastard had actually shot him. That he had lost control that he had allowed the panic to take control and for the blood running down Judy's right ear. Seeing he was back in control Judy got off him then he slid to the bottom of the Knoll facing the left side so that he could sit straight up without presenting a target. Judy slid down by him as he took off his hood and mask. He could feel her eyes on him as he took off his jacket, gloves, and long sleeve under shirt to inspect his wounds.

Both shots had gone straight through leaving two perfect holes, one in the inner part of his left arm and through his shoulder just below his collar bone. But he only felt that deep bone pain in his arm and while his shoulder hurt like hell, he still had full use of it. It wasn't until he bent over to grab his first aid kit from one of his many cargo pockets that a woozy feeling hit him like a sack of hammers. He wobbled slightly and almost fell over but luckily Judy stood up grabbed his right shoulder and steadied him.

"Are you okay?" She asked in a worried tone.

"Yeah." He said shaking his head. Then he looked at her and asked. "Did you give me anything?"

She nodded her head and held one of the syringes that rolled down the slope. "Yeah I did. I gave you all the pain killers I had in my first aid kit."

"Not to sound ungrateful but how much did you give me?" He asked.

"Well there was for two full doses for my partner and he's a fox. That's two full syringes each doses so..." She trailed off still looking worried.

"And Nicks roughly ninety pounds right?" He asked. And all he got back was a very shocked nod. "So two syringes is one dose for a ninety pound fox. That means all four would be enough for someone weighing about a hundred-eighty pounds and since I'm only a hundred-fifty pounds. I think it's safe to say you might have given me a little too much there Carrots." He said shooting her an amused smile.

This seemed to be the final straw for the bunny as she said "Okay how in the carrot do you know that?"

"Know what?" He asked feeling honestly confused.

"How do you know my name? How do you know Nicks name or that he weighs ninety pounds? And how do you know Nicks nickname for me is 'Carrots'?" She asked all this intensely and quickly while gripping his arm so tightly it was almost painful.

He didn't know if it was the drugs or what but suddenly he had the urge to laugh. And laugh he did, he even threw back his head and everything. Which earned him a scowl and a punch to the his good arm. "Ow!" He said his laughter turning into a chuckle. "Sorry Judy it just this whole situation is so ridiculous it's funny. And its would be a lot easier to show you then tell you because unless you see it you won't believe me. So when we get out of here and in a safe place I'll show you okay?"

She gave him a stern look saying. "Fine." Then she pointed her finger at him threateningly. "But I'm going to hold you to that."

He was fighting the urge to laugh again. But instead he held up his good hand in surrender saying with a smile. "Fine you win Fluff. I promise to show you everything once we're safe."

"Good. So how about we do that because I think we should just make run for it and get away from that monster." She said confidently and a excited glint in her eye.

With the change in subject he grew serious again and grabbed his first aid kit with a sigh. "Judy don't you think that if running was in any way a good idea that I would have chosen that over killing someone?" He asked as he started to bandage his arm. "No we can't run because whether we run east (he points in front of him) or we run west (he points behind him)we have a fifty yard sprint that we have to make before we reach the trees. That's fifty yards out in the open with no cover or anything to protect us." Seeing that she's about to say something else upbeat he raised his hand and continued. "And I'm sure you could sprint fifty yards before he could shoot you but I can't he'd kill me before I made it more than halfway even at a full sprint. We can't run north (pointing up the slope) because that's three times the distance before we reach the trees and right towards the psychopath trying to kill us. We can't run south (pointing at the back wall of the Knoll) because there's four to six feet of thorns we'd have to push though without any kind of tools."

He started to wrap up his shoulder as Judy's ears started to fall. "And even if we ran and both of us made it here's how it would go. That way (pointing east) is my duffel bag it's hidden in a hollowed out oak it has some food, water, plenty of ammo, weapons, and other supplies and we might just be able to get away. But it would be child's play to track us and we wouldn't see him coming when he caught up to us. If we ran that way (pointing west) there is a rock and boulder filled area just beyond the trees it would make it almost impossible for him to track us. But traveling over rocks and boulders is dangerous in the summer could you imagine what it would be like with them covered with snow and ice. One if not both of us would get hurt and we wouldn't have anything other than what we have on us right now. If we went that way (pointing north) One: we'd never make it. Two: even if we did we'd have no where to go but right back here to the field. And if we go that way (pointing south) it'll be a very painful experience we'd get covered from head to toe in cuts, that many cuts in cold weather like it is right now and you have a high chance of getting frostbite and frostbite once again in these conditions it can easily turn into blood poisoning." He finished bandaging his shoulder he looked at her with a solemn expression.

For a moment she looked down with an expression devoid of all hope. Then she looked back up at him saying with both a look and tone of grim determination. "Well we can't just roll over and die we need to fight. And to do that we'll need a plan."

Anthony was more than happy to see that glint of fire in her eyes. He gave her a confident smile and nodded his head as half dozen crazy plans were already going through his head.

Then the man's voice came clear as day again this time cold and menacing. _"The kids right rabbit. There is no escape and you only have two choices. A quick death from me and my assault rifle. Or a slow death from exposure to the cold or your lack of food and water. Those are your only choices quick or slow either way neither of you are leaving here alive."_


	3. First Death

Judy's POV

She whipped her head around towards the voice then back to her protector. His look of confused worry turn into one of sudden understanding. She watched as he quickly reached into his back pocket and pulled out a phone in a green camo case tapped the screen several times and music started playing. It was some kind rock which was a type of music she had never really enjoyed and this song was no different especially since the starting lyrics were,

_'Let the bodies hit the floor,_

_let the bodies hit the floor,_

_let the bodies hit the floor.'_

This must have showed on her face because her protector gave her another small amused smile and asked in a low voice.

"Not a rock fan huh Fluff?" But before she could answer he continued speaking as he started to wipe the blood from his skin with handfuls of snow. "Sorry but this is the loudest music I've got and with my phone on full volume and the fact that the battery should last at least eight hours it should help us quite a bit." He glanced at his wrist and she noticed that he was wearing a watch. "It's almost noon and since we need to be out of this mess before night falls and as long as my phone last that long we'll be good."

She couldn't see how listening to a song about killing helped them in any shape or form. "Okay how does that help us." She felt even more confused when he looked at her like she was missing the obvious.

"Umm...Judy one way or another he's listening to every word we say he just proved that with his little comment just now, that even though he's a hundred yards away he hear every word I just said to you. So as long as we keep my phone at full volume, near us, and keep our voices low all he'll hear is my rock playlist. Which means instead of him knowing our plan as soon as we come up with it we have a chance to pull one over on him." He said as he threw aside the final blood stained handful of snow.

She felt the heat rise in her face and ears and was sure the flush was visible through her fur. She was the best officer in the ZPD she should have seen that right from the get go. She was to rapped up in her own thoughts trying to explain to herself how she had missed it that she jumped when she felt something touch her forehead. She looked up to see that her protector had closed the distance between them and had reached out with one of his oddly shaped paws to feel her forehead.

As she tried to slow her heart rate he quickly did a calming gesture saying. "Relax Fluff I'm just trying make sure your okay."

He reach out and gently touched her forehead, then after a moment he snapped his digits twice next to both of her ears first one then the other, then he bent closer till there was only inches between them and stared intently at her eyes, And finally as he leaned back again he reached out and began lightly tracing a shape on her right ear sending a shiver down her back.

"Well Fluff good news there doesn't seem to be anything majorly wrong with you no concussion or anything like that. But the cut on your ear." He said pulling his paw back then gesture towards the ear he had touched. "It's most likely going to need a couple stitches and it's going leave a decent sized scar since it's jagged but it's not to bad." She watched as the look on his face become confused. "How'd that happen anyway I pretty sure that wasn't there before I got shot and completely lost it."

"That monster." She said the last word with as much venom as she could while he tapped some gauze to her ear. "Made a mad dash right for us. I managed to fight him off with your sidearm but a bullet grazed my ear."

His expression became one of mixed shocked and fury as his strange paws flashed to the empty holster on his hip. His head whipped around and then while keeping low he stretched nearly his full length and retrieved both his rifle and pawgun before sitting back again. And once again she marveled at the oddity of him. He was completely furless with only short hair on top of his head, he was tall, with a slim muscular build she had come to associate with predators. But he had very broad shoulders and had more than just his natural muscle which suggested he worked out regularly. From his body alone she would have guessed that he was in his mid twenties like herself. Only his voice and face said he was younger and if she went by his face he'd have to be ten at the least. But that wasn't possible simply by the way that he acted, the way he handled his rifle, the way he made the decision to protect her, and the fact he decided to take the life of the monster to do it. And there was no way a child could make decisions like that. So just how old is he? And more importantly _who_ is he?

She sat there and watched as he pulled out a small box of ammunition from one of his pockets along with a spare clip. She watched as he loaded four more round into the rifle then replaced the empty clip in the pawgun with the new one and popping a round into the chamber. He reached into his pocket and grabbed a third clip and held it in one paw with the box of ammunition in the other.

"This is all we have." He said snapping her out of her train of thought.

"What?"

He glanced up at her then back at what he was holding. "This is all the ammo we have including what I just loaded there's twenty-six rounds for my handgun and twelve rounds for my rifle."

"It's not enough?" She asked already knowing the answer.

He shook his head and looked at her sadly. "Not even close. At this range my handgun is useless unless he makes a run at us again and gets close. So in reality we only have twelve shots that do us any good. And my rifle is a Remington 700 hunting rifle so it's a good rifle but it's a smaller model meant for stuff the size of rabbits, raccoons, and so on. Is it lethal to a human? Yes, yes it is. But it was never meant or designed to punch through bullet resistant body armor. And the fact that, that bastard is still alive proves without a doubt that he has body armor. On top of that the bullets I have are Hollow Points and their meant to go into a target not through it so they're knocking him on his ass and weakening his armor but they're a lot less likely to go through it. Given a few direct hits I might be able to chew through his body armor but..." He trailed off at the end.

"I did hit him once earlier." She said quickly, letting a little pride into her voice.

"Really?" He said and she nodded. "Well that certainly helps, quite bit actually. But the damage the bullet did depends completely on how far away he was and were on his body armor it hit. So it could still take a couple shots to punch through his armor with my rifle. And the only reason both of us got a shot on him so easily was because he under estimated both of us. And now that both of us have shot him how likely do you think it is that he'll under estimate us again."

"Not likely." She admitted feeling dirgected again.

Her protector simply nodded looking away as he grabbed his white long sleeve and started cutting off the red parts with a large knife from his belt saying. "Which is why I don't like our chances of getting more than one lucky shot without one of us dying. So we need a plan."

"Any ideas?" She asked as she watch him cut the clean white cloth into sections and begin attaching each one to his jacket with safety pins making the blood stains invisible.

As he did that he looked at her and gave her a sly grin that reminded her painfully of Nick and answered. "Of course Fluff. But give me a little while I want to look at them from every angle and workout as many of the kinks as I can." And with that he put his jacket, gloves, hood, and placed his mask under his chin so that she could still see his face. She watch as he holstered his sidearm grabbed his rifle and phone and made to crawl back up the slope when he hesitated and turned towards her saying. "Where are my manners?" He reached out to shake her paw. "My names Anthony nice to meet you." She couldn't stop a smile from creeping across her snout as she shook his paw. 'Well that's one question answered.' She thought.

Anthony's POV

He was laying behind the log in the trench he made earlier so that he could see the field for the last three and a half hours. He kept a patient and careful eye open for any sign for their 'friend' while jamming out to his rock playlist as he went over plans in his head. And while he was calm and patient Judy was not. Right now she was laying a foot or two to the left of him under his ghillie blanket with her foot was twitching like crazy. She had already formed the habit that when she wasn't lying next to him she would be pacing the bottom of the Knoll. He actually found the fact that she couldn't stay still for long very amusing.

"So do you have a plan yet?" Judy asked and hearing her practically growl in frustration actually made him laugh.

'Okay.' He thought. 'I know that I'm loopy from the pain meds but this is ridiculous' And catching the glare from Judy he quickly said. "Sorry Fluff. I'll admit I can be quite the goof ball at times and I have a twisted sense of humor but I usually not like this. One of the perks of being a member of my family high pain tolerance, low drug tolerance which for me means no impulse control and a bad case of 'open mouth inset foot' syndrome." He shook his head and laughed before continuing. "Damn those pain killers are strong. How much longer are they suppose to last."

"At least another three hours." Judy grumbled.

"Well to answer your question." He said trying his best to be serious again. "I actually have three plans."

"Really?" She asked with her nose twitching with excitement. He couldn't help but think how amazing it was that she could pull a one eighty with her mood like that.

"Yeah but they're all crazy there are so many ways they could each go wrong." He said slowly gaining control of his emotions. "Plan one is border line suicide. You see that metal door over there? That's about six feet away from were you appeared at. Now I don't remember it showing up so it probably came through while I was being fried by the lightning."

"What?!" Judy asked her eyes going wide.

"Yeah not a very pleasant experience. Anyway back to the plan. I run out there grab the door and use it like a makeshift riot shield and run straight towards him. And while I'm drawing his attention you run off to the side doing a bit of a half circle so that you'll be coming at him from the side and once your close enough that you can't miss you shoot him with my handgun."

The look of fear on Judy's face told him what she thought of this plan.

"Yeah like I said it's basically suicide. If he had a bolt action rifle like me it might work; but since he has some kind of assault rifle which fires in three round burst he'll chew through that door in a minute tops. And it puts you at a lot of risk because it puts you right next to him so if you missed or the handgun bullet didn't kill him you'd be as good as dead." He said looking back out across the field.

"Wait 'handgun' isn't that a pawgun or does that mean it's some kind of special pawgun?" Judy asked

That threw him for a loop at first then suddenly understanding hit him and he couldn't help but give another small laugh then he lifted up his hand wiggled his fingers at her and asked. "What would you call this Fluff?"

"Your paw?" She answered like she was questioning his sanity.

"Well you say paw, I say hand." He said wiggling his fingers again. "If you walk up to a human -someone of my species- and refer to our hand as a paw they'll look at you like your crazy. But at the same time if you said 'I hurt my paw' any human would understand what you mean. A little confusing I know so best way to remember that I can think of right now is four digits equals paw, while five digits equals hand. That make sense?"

"Kind of?" She said but she sounding confused.

"Anyways plan number two is that I give you directions back to my camp. It's a three hour walk from here and I have no doubt that you could probably run that distance in half the time or less. In my camp there's a high powered radio that you can use to call for help. But the problem with that is I came out here on a ATV and it took a full day to do it. So even if help flew in a helicopter it would still take hours so by the time you got back here with help..." He didn't finish not wanting to say it aloud to make it real. Unfortunately what he didn't say didn't go unnoticed by the cop next to him.

"He would have already killed you." She said in a hushed voice, as she said what he couldn't.

"Yeah plan two basically guarantees that only you survive. Plan number three on the other hand..." He trailed off again already imagining her reaction to his third and best plan.

"Guarantees that you survive and I don't." He look at her as a look of overwhelming sadness filled her amethyst eyes.

"No." He said shaking his head then saying sincerely. "Any ideas of just saving myself went out the window when I refused his offer. No it's just (chuckle) your really not going to like my plan. And the bad thing is it's the only plan I have that gets us both out of here alive with the least amount of risk."

"If it's what gets us out of here alive why wouldn't I like it?" Her confused tone made him smile broadly.

"Well...How do you feel about being naked?" He asked coyly. He couldn't help but laugh as her eyes went wide, her face and ears went bright red, and how she tried to speak but only managed to splutter. "Relax Fluff cause if you get any redder you'll be a fox." He said having a hard time keeping the glee out of his voice. But the resulting growl and seeing her about to punch him (and knowing from the slap earlier that she was a lot stronger than she looked) made him decided to head her off before she hurt his left side any more than it already was. "Now hold it Fluff can you at least wait and hear my reasoning for you being naked before you decide to hit me."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Fine but you better make it fast and it better be good." Her tone made him gulp and left him in no doubt what she could and would do to him if his explanation wasn't to her standered.

"Alright look it's simple your wearing a blue uniform and that really stands out against white snow and it would give you away. The only way you could make it worse is if you were wearing a reflective vest." He saw her relax slightly, he was still in grave danger of a rabbit punch but at least he had her attention. "For plan number two the blue of your uniform giving you away wouldn't matter because he couldn't react in time. And since you would just keep going and not come back it wouldn't matter that he saw you. That's mostly because he wouldn't be able to chase you without me shooting him. But for plan number three you wouldn't just run away, instead you'd go to my duffel bag and then come right back here. And if he saw you as you ran there he'd be waiting for you to come back and this time he'd be ready to shoot you. But your fur is a light grey any lighter and you'd be white. That coupled with your size and speed I highly doubt that he'll see you until you run back here to the Knoll and by then It would be too late and you'd have what we need. So either you go with cloths on and he shoots you on your way back, or you go naked and he doesn't notice until it's too late."

She was still glaring at him but seemed to be thinking it over then asked in a calmer tone. "And why couldn't we just use this-" Yanking on his Ghillie blanket. "-to make sure he doesn't see me?"

"To risky." He said shaking his head. "Taking the whole blanket would slow you down and give you away. And any kind of camouflage or Ghillie suit I could throw together for you most likely wouldn't work it would fall apart or give you away just as much as your uniform. The color of your fur is the best camouflage you could ask for right now, and our best chance given our situation."

She still looked quite grumpy and was quiet for a minute before she said glumly. "Your right _(sigh)_ I guess it can be helped." Then she quickly (but lightly considering her strength) punched him in the arm. A gasp escaped his lips as fresh pain exploded in his wounded arm making his eyes water. "That was for running your mouth." She rolled over so she could slide down the slope on her back then she stopped. She looked at him her face cold and dangerous again saying. "And if you turn around I'll taze you until the battery dies got it?"

He nodded and gave her a small thumbs up and said in a strained voice. "You got it Fluff. No peeking, you the boss."

"Great." She said with a blinding smile sounding positively chipper as if he'd just made her day as she slid down the slope.

Still holding his arm he looked back out across the field saying. "Just remember all you have to do is follow my trail to get to my bag. Once you get there look in my bag there is a spare walkie talkie and when you have it turn it to take two so that we can talk to each other."

"Alright when do I go? And what do I need to grab?" She asked from behind him.

"I'll tell you what to grab when you get there that's what the walkie talkie's for." He answered. "And you go when ever your ready. Just run as fast as you can, I'm willing to bet your faster on all fours so use that to your advantage go low and go fast."

"Duly noted." Was all she said before he saw a gray blur shoot past him.

He took a deep shaky breath pulled his mask up over his face mumbling to himself. "Here goes nothing." He looked up at the sky silently praying to any and every god he could think of that his crazy gamble would pay off.

Judy's POV

She sprinted as fast as she could and as she did she kept expecting to hear gun shots. When she reached the end of the wall of thorns she quickly turned left and crouched behind a tree. Her ears twitched in all directions as she tried pick up any sounds that would mean she was seen. After a moment she let out a sigh and shivered she took a few minutes to collect her thoughts. Then she started looking around trying to figure where she needed to go next, then she spotted a trail of prints in the snow that went to the field but not away from it. Anthony had said to follow his trail she was just glad that it was so easy to follow.

She rubbed her upper arms trying to warm herself as she walked over to what she assumed was the tree she was looking for simply by the number of prints in front of it. She was proven right because as she walked around it she found that the base of the tree was indeed hollow and had a large bag with the same kind of camouflage as Anthony's clothing. She pulled out the bag and began digging for the walkie talkie once she had it she turned it on and turned it to take two just like Anthony said then she thumbed the key. "Can you hear me."

_ "I hear you loud and clear Fluff."_ Anthony said, and she could hear the relief in his voice._ "I have to admit I was getting a little nervous there. I started to think maybe this guy wasn't alone and his friend had got you. What took you so long?"_

"Sorry I just needed to take a few minutes after all I'm cold, naked, and scared out of my mind both because a monster is trying to kill me and because I have no idea where I am. So yeah I needed to collect my thoughts." She answered being a lot more snippy then she had meant to be.

_"That's alright Judy I understand completely I really do. I never once imagined that any of this would or could happen and I don't understand why it's happening anymore than you do. And right now I'm not sure what I want to do more; rip him limb from limb or find the deepest darkest hole I can and then curl up and cry."_ Even through the walkie talkie she could hear his voice crack. But when he spoke again it was with as much strength and determination as before._ "But he's trying to kill you for apparently no reason. And now he's trying to kill me for protecting you. If he is willing to kill us so easily then god only knows how many others he's killed. I'm terrified Judy, I really am. I don't know if my plan is going to work, or even if both of us are going to survive and I would like nothing more than to run to get as far from here as possible. I know that the odds are against us and that more than likely at the very least I'm going to die. But I know that if we don't stop him he'll keep killing and I know that there is no way I can do it without you Judy. So if you need to take a few minutes to get your head straight then do it, by all means take as much time as you need."_

All she could do was stare at the walkie talkie for a moment. Her ears were laying across her back as a wave of guilt hit her. She had taken her anger and fear out on him, had she done it by accident? Yes but instead of him snapping back he consoled her he laid out his thoughts and feeling to try and make her feel better to, to try to feel hopeful. But what really hit home with her was that he was completely sincere about what he said, she could hear it in his voice that he truly meant every word.

She didn't know how to respond so she just said. "Thank you."

_"No problem Fluff I got your back."_ He answered. _"Just let me know when you are ready to keep going"_

"I'm good just let me know what I need to do." She answered quickly her ears shooting up.

_ "Are you sure?"_ He asked. _"We still have three, four hours before it gets dark so we can wait a little bit."_

"No I'm good and the sooner we do this the sooner we'll be out of danger." She answered not saying that a good part of it was that she wanted to get dressed again as soon as possible.

_"Alright you got it Fluff."_ He said. _"So for my plan to work I need three things my machete, my other rifle, and a few clips for said rifle. Depending if you can carry them and if you can how your able to do it will decide weather or not you just run back to the Knoll or we get creative."_

"So you want me to try to get this stuff back to you?" She asked her ears falling again.

_"Just the items I listed. But yeah it's the only bit of the plan I can't do but you can. Go ahead and use anything in my bag that you need to just let me know what you come up with."_ He said.

She quickly looked through the bag and found what she was looking for. The machete was just as tall as tall as she was when her ears were standing straight up. Though she was happy to find that considering it's size it was very light and easy for her to lift. She lifted up one of the clips for the rifle just as she expected it weighed almost nothing and when she looked closely she realized that it was loaded with Full Metal Jacket rounds (Also known as FMJ rounds for short) and each clip held eight rounds so she decided to grab three clips. Then she looked at the rifle it was nearly twice as big as the rifle he had with him in the Knoll it also had a Bipod on the front extra stability accuracy. That coupled with the FMJ rounds it explained why Anthony wanted the rifle so bad with this It wouldn't matter if that monster had body armor or not. But that meant it was even bigger than the machete and a lot heavier. She could lift it but it was very awkward and because of it's size and weight she'd have a hard time walking with it and running? Forget it she just didn't see how it could be done.

_'Just how in the carrot did he expect me to carry this thing and out run a psychotic gunman at the same time? Is he crazy?'_ She thought.

_** 'Well we already established that he's crazy.'**_ Said a small voice in her head. _**'I mean how many kids are willing to not only to risk their own lives, but take someone else's life to protect somebody they don't even know. Besides did you hear his jokes earlier? He's like a over grown version of Nick.'**_

She gave a small groaned at the last part. After a little more digging in the bag she found a length of blue rope. And after ten minutes she managed to make a makeshift harness. Both the machete and clips were easy but it took her five very frustrating minutes to get the rifle in both a comfortable and balanced position. The weight made her groan again but she reached down and grabbed the walkie talkie saying.

"I managed to figure out a way to carry everything but this rifle is heavy it's going to slow me down and throw me off balance."

_ "I figured as much let me know when your about to run. I'll keep a close eye on you and him when he notices you I'll draw his attention. He'll have to make a choice shoot at you or shoot at me, that should make him hesitate. I'm pretty sure he'll go after me and that should be enough to buy you the time you need."_ He answered.

The feeling of anxiety in her chest that had been there since she first saw the crack spiked slightly. "Why can't you distract him as soon as I start running instead of waiting for him to notice me?"

_ "Remember I only have four bullets in this rifle and if I alert him that somethings happening too soon it'll put you at risk. Because once I fire all four of them I won't be able to reload in time to stop him. But if this goes how I plan it to we'll catch him off guard and the few seconds it'll take him to decide whether to shoot at you or at me should be all you need to get back here. In short this is going to be a game of chicken and it's going to be all about the timing, all about making him flinch making him back off at just the right moment."_

She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Once again he was right, once again he was making perfect sense and she couldn't think of a better plan or a way to argue his. So she said the only thing she could. "Alright I trust you."

_"Judy...look you can still back out, you can still leave."_ He said hesitantly. _"I know that my bag has whatever you might need you can just follow my tracks to my camp, call for help once your there, and be safe."_

"And what leave you to die?" She asked disbelief filling her voice.

_"Judy you can't save everyone, no one can."_ He said simply. _"And the way I see it I saved your life so even if I die as long as **you** get out of here alive then my life was worth something. Besides you don't know me and you don't owe me anything. You can just go **no body** would blame you."_

"No. Your wrong I'd blame me and I do owe you, I owe you my life. And we Hopps always repay our debts. Besides when I became a cop I swore to protect others even if I didn't know them. So no I'm not leaving you here. Besides how can you even talk about dying like that?! Your like what...twelve?!"

_"(Chuckle) No I'm fourteen. But when you've lived the life I have you have two choices let it crush you or grow up fast and start thinking like an adult. Besides my mom says that I was born a ten year old and I've only been getting older."_

"Well be that as it may, I'm not going anywhere." She said firmly making sure to get her point across while thinking. 'He really is a bigger version of Nick. It sounds like he might have just as an interesting past as Nick. I'll have to remember to ask about it later and maybe I'll have better luck getting answers from him than I did from Nick.'

_ "Alright Fluff just let me know when your ready."_

She crouched behind the same tree as earlier made a few last minute adjustments took another deep breath and reached for her walkie. "Alright I'm ready."

_ "I got your back Fluff."_ He repeated.

And with that she bolted.

Anthony's POV

He had managed to keep his voice level and even calm while he was talking to Judy. But the way he was feeling was a completely different story. He had been diagnosed with a severe mood disorder when he was younger in short it made all of his emotions far more intense then they should be and hard to control. And for him that manly meant that instead of being depressed all the time (like almost everyone else with the same disorder as him were) it meant that the smallest things use to make him extremely angry and would cause him to fly off the handle for no reason so he had been put on medication. Once he was on them he had a clear head and he noticed just how massive the difference was, but it had been years since he had weaned himself off his meds. And ever since he's kept his emotions under an ironclad self control so that even his mother couldn't tell the difference between him on or off his meds.

But now...now for the first time in a long time he was at risk of losing control. It was strange his disorder brought on the inexplicable anger but at the same it amplified his fear and anxiety ten fold. It felt like his emotions were ripping him in half. His self control was hanging by a thread and he had a bad feeling that before this was over either he would completely lose control or that he would be forced to purposely drop his guard and let out the forces building inside him. And the thought scared him.

He gave himself a good hard mental slap thinking. _'No stop dwelling on **might** happen. It's been at least five seconds since Judy started running and that bastard will notice her in another second or two.'_ With that he put his eye to his scope. The whole time he'd been waiting for Judy he'd kept a close eye out for their new friend and as he expected he hadn't seen him. But he had a pretty good idea on were the man was.

It was about a second before he saw movement at the very edge of his scope just behind the stump. He quickly adjusted his aim it wasn't the greatest angle since he was laying down but that was just fine since he was only trying to distracted the bastard not kill him...not yet. He saw the man take careful and steady aim tracking a target he could only assume was Judy as she ran. He ground his teeth and didn't try to line up a kill shot he knew he would never make, instead he simply just fired._(Bang)_ And to his great satisfaction he saw that his shot had the desired effect the man instinctively flinched as away from the shot that went well over his head jerking his gun up in the proses. And as He loaded the next round into the chamber the man turned and fired right at him. Out of instinct he ducked his head behind the log, but was surprised when the bullets struck the log four feet to his right and that the next couple burst the man fired weren't directed towards him but at Judy.

_ 'Shit!'_ He thought. _'That bastard's just trying to get me to back off long enough so he can shoot Judy.'_

_** 'Well I guess it was too much to ask that he'd simply go along with our plan.'** _Said an exasperated voice in the back of his head. _**'Well shoot at him if we hit him, we hit him. We don't, we don't. We just need to throw him off long enough to save Judy.'**_

_ 'I know! Now shut up?'_ He screamed at the voice in his head._(Bang)_ The second shot made the man flinch but not nearly as much as before, and unlike before he didn't even bother too shoot at Anthony he just fired another burst at Judy._(Bang)_ Anthony quickly fired but his third shot had little to no effect on the man. Now his control was really starting to crack, and right now his anxiety and fear were winning. He quickly punched the bullet wound on his arm so he could use the pain to pull himself together, he letting out a hiss of pain as he loaded his last shot and hastily took aim._ (Bang)_

_** 'Nice shot.'** _Said the little voice in his head in an admiring tone.

_ 'Thank you.'_ He thought back smugly.

He hadn't killed the man since the stump and his position kept him from getting a clear shot. But if the man didn't already hated Anthony he definitely did now. See his last shot had missed but it had cut a groove through the old dried up stump causing a small explosion of splinters and wood chips on the other side. And judging by the way the man was now thrashing while holding his hands to his eyes Anthony was pretty sure that a few of said splinters and wood chips had hit him in the eyes. It was just one of those things that he wouldn't be able to repeat even if he tried.

He rose up to his knees and was about to run out and make sure Judy was safe, when a grey blur shot past him tripped over the log and tumbled down the slope.

"Judy!" He shouted as he slid down to sit next to her as he helped her right herself. He started frantically checking her over from head to toe for injuries while asking. "Are you hurt?! Did he get you?!"

Only when she shook her head did he relax letting out a sigh of relief. He hung his head, pulled off his mask, bent forward closing his eyes, and started taking deep breaths continuing his losing battle for control. Keeping one hand on Judy's shoulder. Once he had calmed down a bit he looked back up at Judy. She had brought her legs up to chest, wrapping her arms around them, resting her head on her knees, her eyes were closed, and her ears were laying across her back. He noticed the ripples running through her fur after a second it dawned on him she was trembling.

"You okay Fluff?" He asked. She nodded her head without even opening her eyes. "No your not your trembling and your ears are droopy." He reached around her and grabbed his Ghillie blanket and turned back to Judy. "Here lets get that off you." He said then helped her take off her make shift harness before wrapping her in the Ghillie blanket and began scratching the base of her ears. He watched as she relaxed and turned her head slightly into his hand and her ears perking up again before he spoke. "Well I got good news Fluff. There's nothing left for you to do the rest of the plan is up to me. But thanks to you we're going to get out of here." Then with a small smirk he said. "So put up your feet, relax, hell take a nap if you want. After all having a psycho shoot at you tends to make most people tired wouldn't you agree?"

That earned him a small smile then she said. "I'm fine it's just...a few of his shots missed me just by the skin of my teeth."

"Well if it's any consolation I think I made him pee himself and I might have even blinded him."

"What?" The look of surprise on her face as she turned to look at him was very amusing.

"Yeah he was hiding behind the stump. I put my last round through the edge of it and judging by the way he thrashed around holding his eyes I'd say a few pieces of wood hit him in his eyes."

She blinked a few times before saying. "Serves him right."

He turned away chuckling thinking she'd be fine for now. He put his Remington 700 off to the side and grabbed the larger rifle and the three clips. He put two of the clips into a cargo pocket, loaded the third into the rifle, and popped a round into the chamber. `

"So why do you need that rifle?" Judy asked. He turned towards her before answering.

"Well like I said since my Remington 700 is for smaller game such as rabbits and raccoons, so it doesn't have enough power to punch through his armor easily and it would take another two or three shots to do it. But this one." He said patting the larger rifle. "This is a Remington R25 it's bigger and much more powerful. It's semi automatic so I can fire just as fast as I can pull the trigger and it has FMJ (Full Metal Jacket) rounds. Plus his body armor is already damaged so you put all that together and I should be able to take him down with just one direct hit."

"I figured as much." She said nodding. "But I thought you said that you didn't like our chances of having a shoot out with him."

"I don't...well not from here anyway." Now she had a look of confusion painted all over her face. "The Knoll is keeping us alive but it keeps me from getting a good shot on him with out leaving myself completely exposed. That's why I had you get this." He said holding up the machete. "I use this to cut through the back wall, Once I'm through I'll go along the outer edge of the field and flank him. If all goes well he won't know I'm there till I pull the trigger."

She gave another nod so he turned and was just about to start hacking at the torn when Judy spoke up again. "I do have a few more questions if it's okay?"

He turned towards her. "Sure ask away."

"Well you keep referring to rabbits as 'game'. What does that mean?"

He mentally swore at himself he hadn't even realized that he had said it. "It's just slang 'game' is just a general term for prey mammals it's not an insult or anything. It's just...slang like tomato vs tomatoe."

Luckily she seemed to except his explanation but followed up with. "And what do you mean when you said that the smaller rifle was meant for mammals the size of rabbits and raccoons? I don't see how any mammal our size could use it."

He stiffened and he now wished that he hadn't taken his mask off, it would have at least given him a chance to hide his reaction. And knowing that she had seen his reaction he knew he wouldn't be able to simply pass it off. "I...I..." He looked away before finishing. "I can't answer that Judy. At least not right now. Because that answer also answers why I was out here in the first place. And that's...that's going to cause a lot of problems." He said the last part in little more than a whisper but of course Judy heard him loud and clear.

He looked back up at her and by her expression her mind was going a mile a minute. He knew that she was no 'dumb bunny' so he knew that she would at least suspect the truth. Even though he knew it was coming the look of narrow eyed suspicion she gave him still hurt. And even though he had expected it to come he couldn't silence the part of his mind that kept saying.

_'Great we saved her life, we put our life on the line to help her, and we even took two bullets for her. And now she's looking at us like we're working for the bastard, like we're a savage that'll turn on her at any second.'_

"So I refuse to answer one question and all trust goes out the window huh?" He didn't say it harshly just quietly and with little emotion.

"Why should I trust you? You've obviously been lying to me." She asked and he saw her throw a couple quick glance towards her cloths where her utility belt was.

"Funny you seemed to trust me just a few seconds ago. And I've never lied to you." He said then his voice got a slight edge as he continued. "So which is it going to be Officer are you going to grab the Taser or the Fox Repellent?" She stiffened slightly but her expression remained unchanged. "Judy do you really think I'd hurt you?" Now the edge in his voice was gone, instead he talked to her the way he would to one of his sibling if they were scared. "Judy if I wanted to hurt you I would have done it already. And if I wanted you dead I wouldn't have saved you in the first place." He said as sincerely as he could. For a moment she seem slightly taken aback by his change in tone before she composed herself.

"And _why_ did you save me?" She asked with a voice that matched her face.

"Look at first saving you was just instinct. When you appeared out of no where when I realized what you are, who you are I couldn't believe you were real. I was still trying to wrap my head around it when I saw the sunlight glint off his scope and I knew how much danger you were in. I didn't have time to think I just acted on instinct. And my first instinct was to save you." His eyes never left Judy's as he spoke. he saw her process what he was saying but her face was still a mask of suspicion. "And when he made his offer...I'm not going to lie a small part of me wanted to except it, to hand you over. A part of me said _'Screw this. That dumb bunny's life isn't worth mine. Just hand her over and walkaway.'_. But the rest of me rebelled against it and was disgusted by the idea. But do you know what finally got me to make my decision?" While her face remained a mask he saw her ears droop slightly. "It was you Judy." Now her mask completely crumbled and was replaced by a mixed look of confusion, shock, and disbelief. "I asked myself what if our rolls were reversed? What if I suddenly appeared in let's say...Tundra Town and some crazy animal was trying to kill me and made you that same offer? Would you sacrifice me to save yourself? Or would you try to protect me? And I'm pretty sure you would have made the same choice I did."

"How...how could you know that I'd do that? That I wouldn't have just handed you over?" She asked her voice full of disbelief.

He felt a small warm smile form on his face. "Because that's who you are. Your the kind of person who put's their whole carrier, their life's dream on the line to help an otter that she's never met before in her life."

"H-h-how..." She stammered her eyes going even wider.

"That'll all be apart of the explanation I promised you Fluff. And I will explain everything I can once we're safe just like I promised, okay?" She just gave him a small nod. "Okay. And I understand If you don't trust me. All I ask is that you trust that I won't hurt you, can you do that?" He received another small nod. Then he turned and started hacking at the wall of thorns.

...

It took him over an hour and a half to do it but finally he managed to cut a tunnel through the thorns just big enough for him to crawl through on his hands and knees. It was painstaking and aggravating work but he finally he managed to cut his way through. when he crawled out and back into the Knoll he tossed his machete to the side and sat there holding his knee for a few minutes.

"You okay?" Came Judy's voice from his left.

He looked over at her, she was still half wrapped in his Ghillie blanket but now he could see the distinct blue of her uniform proving that she gotten dressed. He gave her a small smile saying. "Yeah, just I don't know which hurts more my bullet wounds or my knee. But the good news is we're through and as my dad would say 'It's man up or shut up time'." He put on his mask grabbed his R25 double checked that there was a round in the chamber before slinging across his back then looked back at Judy. "When you see me running towards the tree that means I got him." Then he crawled out of the Knoll.

It took him roughly ten minutes to go around the field he kept in the trees so he wouldn't be spotted but he made sure he could see the field through the trees. Once he parallel to the mans hiding place he laid down and started to crawl closer to the field. Once he was at the very edge of the field he laid behind a thick oak tree so that only his upper body wasn't blocked by the tree. He deployed the bipod and brought his rifle to his shoulder.

As he expected he had a clear view of the man as he crouched behind the stump but it didn't give him any protection from this angle and since unlike at the Knoll the ground was level he had a perfect shot. Anthony decided to aim for the mans torso instead of his head because while it was unlikely to be a instant kill shot but it meant that he was less likely to miss. And because the mans side was facing him he didn't have to worry about the mans body armor since all bullet resistant armor protected the front and back of the wearer but there was little to no protection on the sides. He had the shot lined up he could take it at any moment but he just couldn't will his finger to pull the trigger.

_ 'Just do it you sissy!'_ He scolded himself. _'You had no problem trying to kill him earlier.'_ That was true but now was different. Earlier they had been trapped with no other way out but now they had a way out, now they had a chance to get away without anyone dying and his conscious wouldn't let him forget it. _'You know why we can't let him live it's just not worth the risk. So if you need motivation just think of what he's done, what he would have done if you hadn't gotten in the way, and what he'll do if he's still alive when we leave here.'_

A number of images flashed in his mind's eye and his anger (which had never fully faded) boiled back up to the surface and this time he didn't try to stop it instead he let it build. He had done his best to control it but right now it was exactly what he needed. He had lost control of his anger before but he had never purposely fed off of it before and now he was going to do just that in order to drown out his conscious. And it didn't take long to do just that. He made final adjustments to his aim then. _(Bang)_ His shot connected but he was surprised by the spray of electric sparks when it did. The man was knocked sideways but he quickly turned trying to get back on his feet and began emptying his clip in Anthony's general direction. But Anthony barely twitched at the incoming bullets instead _(Bang,Bang,Bang)_ he fired three consecutive shots and this time he was rewarded with a bloody red mist as the man fell flat on his back.

He didn't know where he had hit the man and he didn't want to give him the chance to recover so he got up and sprinted towards the man as fast as his legs could carry him despite the screaming pain in his right knee. He reached the man just as he was struggling to sit up Anthony quickly kicked the man in the head with his boot then yanked his rifle from his hands and grabbed his sidearm before backing off to a safe distance.

"Not bad for a fourteen year old huh?" He said acidly. "Now who do you work for? And how did you know Judy would be here?"

The man removed his mask revealing that he like Anthony was white and that he had a medium length black beard. But after that all the man did was stare up at the sky taking one ragged wheezing breath after another as his blood colored the snow around him.

"Look either you can answer me or you can't. If you answer me I'll make it quick. But if you don't answer me I'll just leave you here to bleed out, got it?"

The man lifted his head slightly and looked at him for a moment before saying in a weak pained voice. "I'm not going to tell you who I work for. You'll find that out soon enough anyways because they'll be after you for this. And when they find you, you'll be lucky if all they do is kill you and that rabbit, otherwise you'll wish I had killed you."

"Really?" Anthony said in cold disbelief. "And how will they know who I am? How will they find me? I make most of my own bullets so they can't track me from my casings and even if they could all I have to do is police my brass they can't track casings they don't have. They have no way of getting my DNA or finger prints since I'm wearing gloves and any DNA evidence from my blood would have been destroyed by the cold they'd be lucky to even be able to tell what my blood type is. So tell me how are they going to find me if all I leave behind is some useless blood and foot prints in the snow?" The man just continued to stare at him without any reaction. Anthony just sighed shook his head then level the mans sidearm (which was a forty-five like Anthony's) with his head saying. "And even if they do find me I'm sure they'll make the same mistake you did and under estimate me so I'm sure I'll be just fine." And with that he pulled the trigger.

He watched as a perfectly shaped circle appeared above the mans left eyebrow just before the back of his head exploded spraying the snow with bits of flesh, bone, grey matter, and a lot more blood. He stared at what was left of the man that tried to kill him. He watched as blood poured out of the hole in the mans head pooling in the snow steam rising from it as the warm blood was exposed to the cold air.

But unlike before he didn't feel a sense of over whelming relief. Instead all Anthony felt was a dark savage pleasure.

Judy's POV

She waited anxiously crouched behind the log in the Knoll still rapped in Anthony's camouflage blanket. And since Anthony didn't take a walkie talkie with him she had no idea what was going on. She hated that the whole situation was out of her paws, that she had zero control over what was happening. The more time that past the more anxious she became. She was so wound up that when the first shot rang out she jumped, and her stomach dropped as even more shots followed and then the shooting just stopped. It was a few seconds before she saw a figure sprinting towards the remains of the oak tree it was then that she let out a sigh of relief. Her protector had won, they were safe.

She hopped over the log and ran to meet Anthony. (She grabbed her own gun as she went) As she got closer her sensitive ears began to pick the sounds of talking.

"-wearing gloves and any DNA evidence from my blood would have been destroyed by the cold they'd be lucky to even be able to tell what my blood type is. So tell me how are they going to find me if all I leave behind is some useless blood and foot prints in the snow? _(sigh)_ And even if they do find me I'm sure they'll make the same mistake you did and under estimate me so I'm sure I'll be just fine."

She came up a few feet behind Anthony just moments before he pulled the trigger. And from were she was standing she had a clear view as the bullet ripped through the mans head. Her paws immediately flew up to cover her mouth. She had never seen a dead body before and now she just watched someone get shot in the head. She had known what was going to happen Anthony had made it very clear that he would kill the monster trying to kill them and she had agreed with him that it needed to be done. But watching it happen brought the whole thing to a whole new level one that terrified her.

Then Anthony turned and looked at her. She felt herself take an involuntary step back as in her mind alarm bells sounded and her instincts were screaming for her to run, that she was just feet away from a predator that would kill her without hesitation. But that couldn't be right could it? Sure he had a slim muscular frame like most predators but he didn't have claws or fangs she had been sure that he was a prey mammal like herself, but the feeling was still there. This feeling appeared and almost over whelmed her the moment she saw the look in his eyes. Earlier when she saw his eyes harden as he decided to protect her it had scared her slightly but only because she thought he was going to trade her life for his and no other reason. But now...now she really was scared of him. The look in his eyes wasn't just hard it was cold almost merciless and when he pulled his mask bellow his chin she saw that the look on his face matched the look in his eyes.

"See I told you I'd get him Fluff." It shocked her that he said this in a tone like he had done nothing more than sweep the floor.

She lowered her paws from her mouth but kept them clutched in front of her chest as she continued to watch Anthony. He slung his rifle across his back, propped the other weapon in the crook of his arm as he turned the handgun in his hand inspecting it.

"Your standard forty-five caliber glock with a thirteen round clip just like mine." the he put into the waist band of his pants before grabbing the other weapon. "But this...this is going to be my new favorite toy." He said with a smile. but this wasn't like the playful and warm smiles he had given her in the Knoll. This smile showed his teeth sent a shiver through her it was sinister and left her in no doubt that he was a predator.

"This is a AR15 Carbine assault rifle. As far as I know unless your military, part of a SWAT team, or private security it's impossible to get this legally. And it's not even standard issue he modified it for greater accuracy, it has a twenty round clip, uses 55.6 rounds, and fires in three round burst. This is an extremely deadly weapon. If he hadn't underestimated us we wouldn't have stood a chance." Anthony said gleefully. She watched as he then swung the weapon across his back with his rifle the crouched down and started searching the mans pockets.

"What do you think your doing?" She asked indignantly, she couldn't believe he was trying to loot the mans body. Anthony threw her a glance towards her but continued his search his smile gone saying.

"Fluff we need to know who he is, where he came from, and who he works for and we can't do that if we just stare at him. Beside he might have something we can use and I'd rather take anything useful then leave it for his friends when they come looking for him. And I'm pretty sure that he meant it when he said his friend will try to look for us s I'll take at edge I can get."

_**'He's right and you know it'** _Said a voice in her head.

_ 'But it's not right.'_ She thought back.

_** 'And neither was killing that man.'** _The voice said back._** 'But if Anthony didn't kill him he would have killed us.'** _

_'But I swore an oath to stop things like this when I became a ZPD Officer.'_ She thought angrily.

_ ** 'Yes. But look around there's nothing like this place, like Anthony, or their weapons in Zootopia. In fact I don't think we're even in Zootopia anymore so does that oath even matter anymore?'**_

_ 'Yes it does!'_ She snapped.

**_ 'Fine it does still matter. But you still know that he's right, in fact he hasn't been wrong yet.'_ **The voice countered.

She opened her mouth to stop him but her mental argument was all the time he needed to search the man and he was already laying out the items he had found.

"Well he didn't have any identification of any kind but including what's in the guns there's eight clips for the AR, two of which are empty and three clips for the handgun." He said gesturing to the different items. But the item at the very end caught her eye.

"Wait is that what I think it is?" She asked pointing at the item in question. And for a moment she saw a flicker of a warm smile on his face before it quickly faded and he answered.

"Yes it is Fluff, night vision goggles which'll be a big help since it'll start getting dark here soon. Unfortunately his listening devise got destroyed by my first shot. But that's okay." He stood up put the clips in his pockets then clipped the night vision goggles to his belt loop.

She still had the same bad feeling as before but it was slowly faiding and he seemed to be relaxing slightly.

"Come on Fluff help me gather up all the casings and lets get out of here."


	4. The calm before the storm part 1

Judy's POV

They were back at the hollow tree were Anthony's duffel bag was hidden. She was standing off to the side watching as Anthony packed the bag. She was still very conflicted He had saved her and protected her. But she didn't know anything about him and she knew that he was hiding something from her add that to how he acted earlier...she wanted to trust him she really did especially after all he's done but she didn't know if she could.

It wasn't until a pained whimper caught her attention did she realized that she had spaced out. When she looked up she saw that Anthony had finished packing the bag and had put the duffel bag on his back like a backpack. He was now holding his injured shoulder with a clear look of pain on his face.

Even though she was still unsure of him she felt a wave of worry pass through her as she asked. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm okay. This hurts like hell but there's no other way to carry this thing." He responded. As she watch he clipped both straps together and put the night vision goggles on his head then he unzipped his jacket down to the clip then looked up at her saying. "Come here Fluff."

She didn't didn't understand what he was getting at so she just stared at him and waited for him to elaborate.

"Fluff if what I remember about rabbits is correct your night vision is actually a bit worse then mine which mean here in about half an hour you'll barley be able to see at all. I have two advantages one: now I have night vision goggles, and two: even if I didn't have the goggles to see I know the trail so well I could navigate it in my sleep. So I have two choices hold your paw or carry you, I'd prefer to carry you. Between my jacket being slightly big on me and this buckle I can make a little pouch big enough for you right here." He said using a hand to show the extra space in his jacket on his chest. "Plus doing it this way means you'll be warm and I don't have to worry about you falling or getting lost. And since your uniform isn't meant for the cold -and try as you might to hide it I have seen you shivering- the warm part is really important."

Her first reaction was embarrassment at the thought of being up against his chest she wouldn't have minded if he still had a shirt instead of just his jacket. The next was suspicion and fear, the feeling may have faded but the look he had earlier was still fresh in her mind. Some of her thoughts must have played out on her face because Anthony rolled his eyes.

"Fluff I thought we were over you expecting me to stab you in the back. So what wrong with this idea, it's no where near as bad as my plan earlier and you went along with that well enough." Then he mumbled something that even her sensitive hearing didn't catch.

"What was that?" She asked pointedly.

"I said. How is it that I trust you with my life. But you won't stop second guessing everything I do." He repeated.

A pang of guilt went through her but it quickly faded. "It's not that I don't trust you-"

"No that's exactly what it is." Anthony snapped cutting her off. "You trusted me at least a little bit up until I didn't answer your question like you wanted. From that point on you've acted like I'm about to turn on you at any moment."

"That's just-" She started to argue just for Anthony to cut her off again.

"Just the cop in you? And the cop in you says that because I didn't answer I'm hiding something and because I'm hiding something I'll turn on you at some point, right?" He asked. As much as she hated to admit it but he had hit the nail right on the head. Both her ZPD training and her own experience said that if someone she didn't know was hiding something often times they were up to no good. But at the same time while she hated to admit it she was slightly scared of him. "So am I hiding something? No I'm not. Am I trying to delay the inevitable? Yes I am. Your going to find out why I was hear one way or another and your going to hate the reason I was here. And me being here when you appeared out of no where was luck a lot of luck, my mom would say 'fate' but me being here was just luck mixed with a harsh truth. And it's a truth you need to know, that you have to know if your going to survive here. But I...I don't like the idea of being the one to tell you but I promised you an explanation and I'll give you one."

Hearing that got her to rethink a few of the things she had assumed about him and her opinion of him. As she did she realized that he had surprised her more than once in the few hours she'd known him by doing the exact opposite of what she expected him to do. And then the thought occurred to her that maybe she should give him a chance. After all hadn't she been the one to give a fox who was a con artist a chance. Hadn't she been the one to say it didn't matter what kind of mammal someone was but what they did.

"Alright." She said relaxing her stance. "I'll trust you a little bit, and we'll do it your way. But I'll want that explanation you promised." Anthony nodded as she walked towards him. And with a little help from him she got situated in the front of his jacket so that her head popped out at his left shoulder. (And while she would never admit it the position was actually some what comfortable) Once she was ready Anthony zipped up his jacket around them, put his mask in place, pick up the AR cradling it in the crooks of his arms, and then stared walking leaving the field behind them.

...

It wasn't long before it was completely dark and since there was no moonlight she could barley see two feet in front of her. As time went on her uneasy at how he acted earlier and the awkwardness of being up against Anthony bare chest faded into the background and as the temperature started dropping she was thankful for the warmth. But there was nothing for her to do and since she couldn't see and her phone wasn't working she had no way of distracting herself so her mind kept going over everything that had happened to her today as it all started to sink in.

Images of everything that happened ran through her head like a crowed of mammals all fighting to be first in line. Her argument with Nick in her sister's cafe, The crack, Nick's and Bogo's faces as she was sucked through the crack, her almost shooting Anthony as he saved her, Anthony getting shot protecting her, Her part in Anthony's plan, and the look in Anthony's eyes as he killed that man. But the worst part were the questions in her head, they flew through her thoughts like an angry swarm of wasps. How did she get here? Where was she? Would she be able to get back? Were Nick and the Chief safe? Who was the man working for? How'd they know where she would be? How long before they found her again? Why was Anthony helping her? Could he be trusted? What was he hiding? Would she ever get to see the mammals that meant everything to her again? Each question and many more stung as they repeated over and over in her mind. But it was the last one that hurt the most and nearly brought tears to her eyes.

She glanced at Anthony between his mask, the night-vision goggles, and the dark she couldn't see his face only the outline of his head. But she knew he was having as hard a time as she was maybe even worse. She could tell because she could feel the tension in his musicals, she could feel as well as hear just how erratic his heart-rate was. She had been at the ZPD for nearly a year and a few of her friends from the academy had been put in situations where they had been forced to kill they had done it in self deference or in the defense of another mammal. But they still struggled with what they had done. And by how Anthony was reacting she began to suspect that his reaction back in the field had been one of instinct and that now he was struggling with what he had done. She looked back down her ears drooping a part of her wanted to say something to help him but how could she help him if she couldn't even help herself. As far as she knew she was trapped and she would never see her family or friends again.

The feelings building up insider her were so over whelming she couldn't describe them all she knew was that it felt like her heart was caught in a vise and it felt like she was being crushed. She felt tears roll down her checks and she gave a small sniff. Then she felt Anthony start scratching the base of her ears.

"You okay Fluff?" He asked his voice strained.

"No." She answered honestly.

"I'm trapped and I'm never going to see anybody that I love again." The pain in her voice was obvious even to her own ears.

"Don't think like that Fluff. Some how, some way you ended up here so there's got to be a way for you to get back." He said, but he only sounded half convinced to her.

"How?" She asked her voice breaking.

"I don't know Judy. I really don't know. But there's got to be a way to get you back. And the sooner the better your not safe here." He said.

Now her feelings shifted from sorrow to dread. "Whoever that man worked from are going to keep coming after me aren't they?"

"Most likely but that's not what I meant Judy." He said sadly as he stopped scratching the base of her ears his hand falling away.

"Then what do you mean?" She asked. When he didn't answer she said pleading. "Anthony _please_ tell me. Your saying I'm not safe and I need to know why."

He stopped walking and turned his head to look at her as best as he could then said in a sad but tense tone like he was telling her against his better judgement. "Judy...there's no good way to say this so I'll just say it. Here in this world it's still predator eats prey."

"W-what are you saying?" The sorrow of losing everyone she cared about moved to the back of her mind as her dread and fear took the for front of her mind.

"I'm saying that here only one species has evolved. Only one species that walks, talks, wears clothing, has a culture. And that's my species -humans. All others are primitive they live on only instinct just like your ancestors and for them it was predator eats prey just like it is here." She felt fear start to build up as she realized what he was saying. Then he looked away and continued. "Humans are omnivores by nature both predator and prey, we are killed and eaten by any predator the size of a wolf or bigger but we also eat prey animals. I was in the field today because I was hunting." He took a deep shaking breath then added. "I was there to hunt rabbits."

Once what he said clicked in her mind her reaction was immediate and instinctive. She drew her pawgun from her belt and pressed the barrel underneath his chin. Other then stiffening slightly Anthony had no reaction.

"Go ahead Fluff pull the trigger. After what just happened I think I might deserve it. And not for the reasons you might think." He said quietly.

"Really? So It's not the fact that your a cannibal and murderer?" She asked venomously. As she silently berating herself for actually thinking he could be trusted and not listening to her earlier suspicions. she was most likely no more then a part of the hunt to him.

"I'm not a cannibal." Anthony snapped as his head turned towards her and she tightened her grip on her gun keeping it pressed firmly under his chin. "Being a cannibal means you eat your own species. I don't eat other humans I only eat different kinds of plants and prey animals. And it's not like they're intelligent, cause they're no smarter then fish."

"Oh so just because you think your smarter that makes your life worth more then their's?" She accused her shock at his statement was wearing off and and anger started to build up inside her.

"That's not what I meant Judy. What I mean is that most Zootopian's both predators and prey don't really care that other living creators are being used as a food source in Zootopia. Other's might feel a small pang of guilt at one point or another but in the end they get over it, in the end they accept it as a part of life and just brush it off like it's nothing. And you Judy are no different, tell me I'm wrong."

As much as she wanted to tell him he was wrong but she couldn't. True when she first joined the ZPD academy seeing her fellow cadets eating meat had unnerved her but she had gotten over it. And while she didn't eat meat herself she had learned to cook it and she had memorized more than half a dozen recipes for bug, chicken, and fish so that she could cook lunches for Nick and a few of her other friends.

"That's how it is here Judy. Eating prey animals is just a part of life for almost all humans and every predator in this world. Almost every predator will see you as an easy meal. While humans will either accept you as an actual person and not just a bunny or they wont. And if they don't it's likely that a few of them will see you as a potential test subject." Anthony paused to let her adsorb that. And she was horrified at what she was hearing. "And when I hunt I have a conscious when I kill I make it as quick as possible and I only kill what I need to keep my family fed and no more. I won't apologize for that Judy." Then he looked away again and said in a low almost defeated voice. "As for being a murderer...after today that's true."

She felt pure hot fury build up inside herself making her truly tempted to shoot him. She said as more than a little of her anger leaked into her voice. "So you regret killing that murderer but not killing innocent mammals!?"

Anthony just shook his head saying in a tired voice. "Do Zootopians regret killing fish or birds? No. As for killing that bastard...let me ask you something. Have you ever kill another living person Judy? Someone just as intelligent as you are?"

She didn't say anything she just glared at him but he seemed to already know the answer. So instead of giving him the answer he wanted she stayed silent.

"I know I had to do it, that he would have killed us. I know it was self defense so I wouldn't even be charged with a crime. But I killed him. I don't know if I regret it or not Judy I honestly don't know, I just know that I feel like I'm being ripped apart. Half of me says I did the right thing the other half says I'm a monster."

She kept her gun in place as he talked and while she was a long way from trusting him the emotion and sincerity in his voice made her believe him made her anger fade slightly as she started to understand what was going on inside his head. But what surprised her was when he started trembling.

"I have a mood disorder Judy which means my emotions are far stronger then they should be. About ten times stronger than what they would be for a normal person. Over the years I've learned how to control myself how to keep my emotions locked down. Sure I've lost control before and gotten into fights but today..." His voice broke and his trembling increased ten fold and when he continued he sounded like he was about to cry if he wasn't already. "Today when I lined up those last shots I realized I wouldn't be able to kill him, that I couldn't pull the trigger. For once we weren't trapped we had a way out a chance to leave without killing him. I knew he would only hunt us down and kill us later, but my conscious kept telling me that there was a small chance. And if I didn't take that chance I was a monster just like him. So I purposely made myself angry and I didn't even try to control it. I...I just let it build then I used. I used all that ice cold rage as fuel as a way to drown out my stupid conscious so that I could kill him. And it scares me Judy just how easily I was able to do that. It scares me just how easily I turned off the part of me that says killing another person is wrong that after I did I didn't even hesitate in pulling the trigger." By now she wasn't even pointing her gun at him anymore it just rested on her lap her anger completely gone. She could literally feel waves of sadness and fear roll off of him. "But what terrifies me the most is that when I shot him in the head I enjoyed it. Some sick and twisted part of me enjoyed pulling the trigger, enjoyed watching him die. What does that say about me Judy? Does that mean that I'm just as bad if not worse than that monster?"

Now he was fully but silently crying she could feel him shaking violently as he cried and felt several of his tears land on her. Judy didn't know what to do. She believed that he meant every word that he had said the over whelming emotion in his voice proved it, and her motherly instinct wanted nothing more then to comfort him since he's only a boy. But she couldn't just forget that he had admitted to hunting and _eating_ bunny's.

Anthony's POV

Anthony wanted nothing more than to fall to the ground curl up and cry himself to sleep right there in the snow. But a small part of his mind reminded him that they were in wolf pack territory and since his jacket and bandages were covered in blood they needed to get back to his camp where they were less likely to be attack.

He gave himself a few minutes to just let it out. Then he forced back the tide of emotion. Once he was some what in control he started walking saying in a choked voice. "We need to get to my camp the smell of my blood will attract predators and since we're in wolf pack territory that would be very bad."

Neither of them said another word the rest of the way. He kept looking down at Judy as they went wishing he was inside her head. She was still holding her pistol but at least she wasn't pointing it at him anymore. But she was just staring towards her paws. She had been angry once he had told her why he was in the field and he knew she would be. But now her just being silent seeming to have no reaction at all was even more unnerving then her anger.

Having said what he was feeling out loud seemed to have actually helped because the longer he walked the better his control got, and by the time he walked into his camp he was almost back to normal except he felt completely drained. He turned off the night vision goggles as he took them off then he pulled off his mask and stuffed it in his back pocket. Then he knelt and helped Judy out of his jacket and then took out a small LED flash light turned it on and pointed around his camp.

"You can sleep in the tent there's already a sleeping bag in there and a small portable heater as well. Just lay down and try to get some sleep we're waking up early tomorrow." He said handing her the LED.

"What about you?" She asked in a halfhearted and flat tone seeming more out of reflex then any thing.

"Well if everything had gone as I planned when I woke up this morning I would have packed up my camp and spent the night sleeping in the snow next to a camp fire anyways." He answered with a shrug. "Besides I have a spare sleeping bag. So between that and the camp fire I'm going to light I'll be fine."

He walked away from her right to his ATV he put his duffel bag in the rear rack, grabbed the spare sleeping bag, and headed towards the makeshift burn pit. He light a fire, made sure it would last the night, set an alarm on his phone, and then laid down with the AR next to him. He just barley registered the sound of the tents zipper open and close before passing out.

...

He woke up to his alarm half an hour before dawn. The first thing he was fully aware of was the a dull but painful throb in both his left shoulder and arm as well as his right knee. He reached over and turned off his phone. He unzipped his sleeping bag sat up, took off his hood, closed his eyes, and just sat there holding his shoulder. He turned around when he heard the tent zipper to see Judy stepping out of the tent. And judging by the tired look on her face and the way her ears drooped it had taken her a lot longer to fall asleep.

"Hey Fluff. You feeling okay?" It was a stupid question and he knew it but it was the only thing he could think of to say. The only answer she gave him was a shake of her head as she walked over and sat next to the pile of hot coals which was all that was left of his camp fire. "Guess neither of us are feeling very so hot right now. You didn't get enough sleep and I don't think using my left arm is an option and walking isn't going to be easy."

"Are you okay?" She asked. He wasn't surprised that her voice was slightly hoarse but it still worried him just how tiered she sounded. "The pain is distracting me which is good." He huffed as he started the camp fire again the pain all to obvious in his voice. "But if I hadn't gotten sleep I doubt I would be able to move right now. So once again thank you very, very much for the pain med's they both made sure I didn't feel any of this yesterday, and made sure I passed out like I did last night which again is the only reason I can move right now."

She just nodded in response. And after a moment he forced himself to his feet hugging his left arm to his body while trying to keep as much of his weight off his right leg as possible. But he still gave a whine of pain as his stood up.

"What's wrong with your leg?" She asked in the same drained but worried voice.

"I have a bad knee. And like my mood disorder, my bad knee is a side effect." He answered limping towards his ATV.

"Side effect?" She asked sounding confused

"Yeah there's a reason why I'm fourteen and am slightly bigger than your average adult human." He answered as he dug out a small stainless steel pot, two coffee cups, and a handful of instant coffee packets then limping back to the fire. "I was born with a genetic disorder which has a name that is way to hard for me to even try and pronounce. But in a nutshell it means that I grew to full size far faster then I should have. My growth was normal until I was four then my growth was rapid and explosive. By the time I was eight I was bigger than my mom and was officially nearly the size of a full grown man. After that my growth basically stopped although I have grown a few inches in the last six years." He groaned as he sat back down across from her again.

"Wait, what?" He couldn't help but smile as he saw the look of shock on her face. Hearing his explanation seem to not only shocked her but seemed to wake her up a little since her ears perked up a bit.

"Yeah crazy right? It's an extremely rare disorder there's been twenty recorded cases in the last fifty years world wide -which is saying something since the world population is somewhere near seven billion people- but of those twenty people only five have survived. And of those five, three of them were permanently crippled." He explained as he filled the pot with snow and put it in the fire.

"How can it be that bad?" Judy asked sounding both concerned and disbelieving.

"As I'm sure you know your body need all kinds of nutrients to survive and grow. Without those nutrients your body shuts down. And growing so much over such a short time would literally drains your body of those nutrients and if it's not treated it's lethal and if it doesn't kill you it'll cause some major problems. For instance the nutrient drain can leave your bones as fragile as if they were made of glass, without the nutrients your joints wouldn't form correctly as you grew causing permanent damage, and with out nutrients and a lot of exercise your muscles would break down and you'd be unable to move." As the snow melted he kept adding handfuls to the pot looking at it the whole time but he was very aware of Judy staring at him slightly wide eyed. "Growing pains hurt because your bones are splintering, your muscles, your ligaments, and ten-dents are all stretching. For me all of that was to the extreme and when my growing pain started they were so bad my mom took me to the hospital. They stared doing test after test but couldn't figure out what was wrong. Until a med student helping out in the lab for some extra credit decided to test for my particular growth disorder just for shits and giggles. You see my disorder has a very unique genetic marker but you'd only find it if your looking for it and since it's so rare nobody had thought of checking for it yet. Lord behold the test came back positive he ran the test a few more times just to be sure each time and they all came back positive. So then he told my doctor. And my doctor told my mom and dad what was wrong and that while what I had couldn't be stopped and it could be lethal it was manageable. And as long as they kept me on the treatment he suggested until my rapid growth stopped I'd have a very good chance at a normal life with no _complications_." He said the last bit very sarcastically as he poured the now boiling water into the two cups.

"So your knee problem and your mood disorder were cause by your genetic disorder?" She asked in a tone that suggested she was having a problem absorbing what he was saying.

"That among other things yeah. My rapid growth caused a chemical imbalance in my brain causing my mood disorder. And as for my right knee the muscles didn't form correctly because of my rapid growth though I did recently have a minor surgery to fix that. It was so minor that I could go on with my life like normal as long as I took it easy and I wear a knee brace for couple weeks. But judging by how it's hurting right now crawling on my knees to cut through the thorn wall and then doing a fifty yard sprint was a little to much for my knee right now. Plus growing like I did made me the freak all through out elementary school and most of middle school." He bit his tongue he'd said too much he only hopped Judy didn't notice that last part. So he tried to redirect the conversation by asking. "So how do you want your coffee strong enough to wake you up, or strong enough to have your ears twitching."

"Strong enough to wake me up. But does that mean you won't stop growing?" She asked seemingly with genuine curiosity.

"No the rapid growth is temporary. It only lasted until I was nearly full grown which is about the time I turned eight. However the mood disorder is permanent and it's likely I'll gain a couple more inches between now and somewhere around my twentieth birthday." He answered in a off handed tone. Then he tried to deflect the conversation by looking up at her with a smile as he handed her, her coffee asking. "You do know how lucky you are that I usually carry a spare for most of the stuff I brought with me right?"

"But since your mood disorder was caused by your rapid growth doesn't that mean it should go away now that your rapid growth has stopped? And why only your right knee?" She asked determinedly then taking a few gulps of coffee as she glared at him making sure that he knew that she wasn't going to let the subject drop so easily.

Seeing that she wasn't going to be distracted he gave a deep sigh before saying. "I don't know why only my right knee was affected it was just the luck of the draw. As for my mood disorder it's not just going to go away because my rapid growth has run it's course. Because that chemical imbalance I told you about rewired my brain, and if they could fix that nobody would ever have a mood disorder." He raised his hand cutting off her next question. "And before you ask just because I grew rapidly doesn't mean I aged rapidly. If I did I probably would have hit puberty at like six, and I only recently hit it." He had accidentally said this with a little attitude. Not a lot but enough to be considered rude. And Judy's face hardened in response.

**_'Well what does she expect we're in a lot of pain and she's prying into stuff that doesn't concern her.'_** Said the same annoying voice from yesterday egging him further towards anger.

_'She's only prying because she lost and so far we're the only person she's met who hasn't tried to kill her. She has basically no choice but to put her life in our hands and she needs to know the kind of person we are.'_ He reasoned as he slammed down on his anger. _'Besides we've answered questions like this a hundred different times.'_

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath making sure he was in control before looking Judy in the eye and saying calmly. "Sorry Fluff after everything yesterday, and being in pain since I woke up my control is paper thin right now. And I'm sorry I took that out on you."

She just stared at him for a moment then she nodded saying. "I did the same thing yesterday so I'll forgive you. All I ask is you don't do it again."

"I'll do my best Fluff. You have anymore questions?"

"Why were you considered a freak?" She asked bluntly.

She obviously notice his comment earlier and this was her way of getting back at him. _'Me and my big mouth.'_ He thought before answering. "I was considered the freak at school because I was a good foot or two tall then everyone by the time I started kinder garden. I got lucky and skipped a grade so when I was eight I was in fourth grade instead of third, but of course I was roughly 5'-7" by then which meant I was about average height for an adult. So for the four years I was there, there was a lot of name calling and teasing, and while some of the adults didn't care most of them looked at me like I was a freak. Before my sixth grade year me, my mom, and my younger siblings moved out here to the small town I live in now. But things weren't any better in middle school they were worse, far worse. Thankfully my freshmen year in high school has been a lot better since everyone is catching up to me in height."

Judy opened her mouth to ask another question but he cut her off saying calmly. "Judy if your going to ask what I meant by middle school being 'far worse' then please don't."

"Why not?" She asked crossing her arms obviously taking it as a challenge. He kept his tone casual as he dug through his first aid kit for a bottle of Ibuprofen. "Because somethings that are just to personal okay. I really don't trust anyone outside my family and small group of friends. I trust you partly because I have no choice but to trust you, but mostly because while until yesterday I had never met you in person, but I do know who you are and the kind of person that you are. I'm telling you about my mood disorder because you need to know about it and you need to know how it affects me. And to know that you need to know how I got it so I told you about my growth disorder and the basics behind it." He finally found the bottle and swallowed a few pills down with his coffee before continuing. "But there's a lot about me, about my life that you don't need to know. And while I trust you Judy I really do. I don't think I feel comfortable sharing every detail about my life with you. Besides it's my baggage to deal with and you don't need to be dragged down by it. So if you have anymore less sensitive questions please ask them because I really want to pack up the camp as soon as possible because it's a twelve hour ride back to town."

"Twelve hours?" She asked her voice rising an octave.

"Yeah I told you it took me a day to get here." He answered.

"It's that far away?" She asked sounding concerned.

"It's not so much that it's that far. It's that there are no real paths out here. If we could go in a strait line from point A to point B it would take maybe...two-three hours at most and that's if it was on the ATV and we were in no real hurry. But since that's not possible we have to follow paths cut into the snow and brush by animals, and those paths twist, turn, and double back all over the place. That and since we'll only average nine mph at most it's going to take about twelve hours." He glanced at his left wrist to check his watch. "It's 5:45 now so if we start packing now we could be back in town by 6:30 tonight if we're lucky." He downed the last of his coffee then groaned as he forced himself to his feet again. He took a few breaths then said as he started limping towards the tent. "Come on Fluff I could really use your help."

"Wow just hold on one second you should-" She started to argue but he spoke over her.

"Fluff please don't baby me. I may not be able to use my left arm but luckily I'm right handed and my right arm is just fine." He said as he stopped smile down at her waving his right hand. "And while my right knee is in bad shape right now I can still stand and I can still wal- well I can still limp. But with your help packing up camp shouldn't be to hard."

She stared at him obviously debating what she should do. And after a moment with the air like it was against her better judgement she stood up and said. "Alright but you need to be careful you shouldn't really be moving."

"Like I said I'm fine Fluff. But let's get started cause it's going to be a long day."

...

He had hoped to have the camp completely packed up in half an hour but it was nearly 8:00 by the time they had finished. Now he was leaning against the pile of gear on the rear rack of his ATV breathing heavily. His injuries had slowed him down more than he thought and since most of his gear was either to big or to heavy for Judy to carry he had done most of the heavy lifting. Which meant that his knee was screaming at him and he had been forced to use his left arm multiple times. It was now basically impossible to hide the pain he was in as it was all he could do to not start crying.

"Are you okay?" Judy asked. He looked at her to see her ears curving back as she placing a paw on the small of is back.

"No" He groaned as he popped a few more Ibuprofen. "I'm not okay. But everything's packed and we can get the hell-"

He was cut off by a high pitched cry. Judy's reaction was instant she went ramrod straight and her ears shot straight up. She spun around in the direction of the sound her nose was twitching like crazy and she was quivering from the tips of her ears right down to her toes. "What is that?" Her voice was full of alarm. "What's making that sound?"

"That Fluff. Is the cry of a rabbit." He said as he straightened up and grabbed the AR. "Which means that I must have missed one of my traps and that little bunny got caught in it." With that he started limping towards the sound of the trapped animal.

"And your going to kill them?!" Judy yelled her voice a mixture of outrage, fear, and anger.

He stopped and turned his head towards her. "No Fluff. I'm going to let him out. I got lucky and got a couple boar so I got all that I wanted and one rabbit isn't going to make much of a difference." He answered soothingly.

"Oh really?! Then why are you taking the rifle with you?!" She accused angrily.

"Judy for one: if I shot a rabbit with this gun there'd be nothing left which would defeat the whole point of hunting for food. For two: I'm taking the AR because like I said last night this is wolf pack territory and the cry of a trapped rabbit is like a dinner bell for any wolf close enough to hear it. And since we're in the middle of winter it's likely that any wolves who show up will be hungry enough to challenge me over said rabbit. And with me being hurt like I am I'll need a gun if any wolves do show up." When she continued to look suspicious he sighed turned his whole body towards her saying. "Look Judy if you don't believe me then you can come with me and make sure I don't try anything, alright?"

After a second she said. "Fine." Then she marched past him at a brisk walk with her back straight, ears erect, chin held high. It was that angry walk only a women could manage.

"Umm...Fluff." He called after her with a small smile.

"What?" She asked turning towards him.

He propped the AR against his right shoulder so that it pointed straight up in the air as he shifted his weight to his left leg before saying. "Judy I'm glad to see your ready to go. But you do realize that while my legs are a lot longer then yours I'm having a very hard time walking right now. So you'll have to go my speed or your'll end up leaving me behind" Seeing the inside of he ears and her cheeks turn slightly pink improved his mood greatly. He repositioned the AR so that it went across his chest barrel pointed at the ground just off his left side. He stared walking and as he limped past Judy he could have sworn she said something like. "-must have been a fox-"

...

Even with his heavy limp it didn't take to long to reach the trap. Once they were close enough to see the rabbit in detail Judy froze with her ears curving back a few feet away while he went straight up to the trap. It was one of the cage traps used to catch animals alive. He knelt down in front of the cage slung the AR over his right shoulder. Then carefully reach in the cage and grabbed the rabbit by the scruff of the neck, and gently pulled it out of the cage carefully avoiding it's powerful back legs.

Once the rabbit was out he began to look it over for any injuries. As he did he vaguely registered the the rabbit was a doe, but as far as he could tell she was just fine. But what did surprise him was that while the rabbit was obviously scared it didn't struggle to much it would give a few small kicks every so often but nothing more, and it seemed calmer then he would have expected since he a predator had it by the neck. Then a idea hit him.

"Hey Fluff come over here please." He called over to Judy.

"What?" She asked seeming very uncomfortable with the idea.

"Come over here please I want to see something." He answered. He kept a close eye on the rabbit he was holding as Judy walked closer. Judy stopped once she was with in reach of the rabbit. And he smiled saying. "Well would you look at that."

"Look at what?" Judy asked looking a little unnerved as she stared at the rabbit.

"You have a calming effect on little miss here." He said as he gestured at the rabbit. "I a predator has her by the scruff of her neck she should be freaking out trying to kick and claw me to death, but she's not. She's calm and acting like this happens to her every day. I have never seen a wild rabbit act like this." He gently set the rabbit on the ground and was surprised yet again because as he watched the rabbit didn't bolt. Instead it gave a little hop towards Judy (causing her to stiffen) and sniffed her. Then it stood on it's back legs, placed it's front paws on his left arm, and sniffed him as well before dropping to all fours and calmly hopping away. He looked back at Judy with wide eyes and said. "That was amazing. I have never see a rabbit act like that never not even rabbits that are raised by humans, rabbits that spend every day of their lives around humans. I mean I've seen pet rabbits sniff their owners like that before but they are almost always skittish or afraid of strangers. That was..." He looked in the direction that the rabbit had hopped away. "I don't know how to describe that." After another moment of silence the throbbing from his injuries brought him back to reality. "Alright Fluff we really need to get going." He getting back to his feet. He only got a nod in response seeing just how unnerved she was worried him but he figured that she'd be alright. He left the AR strapped over his should and instead broke down the cage then he and Judy headed back to the ATV. His worry for Judy grew because her face staid oddly blank and once they were ready to go and he told her it was best if she in front of him which meant she would be basically sitting in his lap. She didn't argue at all everything about her said that seeing that rabbit had really unnerved her. He figured he'd have a similar reaction if he met an ancient human back when humans still slept in trees. So he figured if he just let her be with her thoughts and not force her to talk then hopefully she'd be okay.

Mean While

Unknown POV

A man with extremely pale skin and short bright red hair and beard sat at a desk shifting threw various reports.

_'Damn that Cartagin!'_ He thought. _'He just had to go and grow a conscious!'_

All of the reports he had been getting all morning said that Dr. Kyle Cartagin and a small group of compatriots had attempted to free the test subjects at one of his facility's late last night. Now his group was trapped in the mess hall of the facility with several hundred test subjects. To make matters worse every attempt to retake the mess hall and the test subjects had failed since they were well fortified, well supplied, and they had even armed a large number of the test subjects with weapons raided from the facility's armory. So now the security forces of the facility had no choice but to wait them out but his security forces only had a couple of days worth of supplies while the doctor and his forces had weeks worth of food and water. And just to throw a cherry on top the snow storms in the area kept him from getting supplies to his security forces for at least the next four days at the very least.

He slammed the papers down on his desk and leaned back in his chair massaging his temples. There was a knock at his office door and a man walked in.

"What is it now." He snapped siting up. The man hesitated before saying.

"Sir I'm with communications and I came to tell you we lost contact with one of our agents."

"Great." He huffed. "Which one did we lose contact with?"

"Carl Johnson sir" The man answered.

"What!" He nearly shouted standing up. He knew Johnson, he was ex-military, an avid hunter, and one hell of a marksman. It was for those reasons that Johnson was considered one of the best in their organization and was usually the one sent to contain the animals that they used for their experiments when they appeared. He was thorough and always got the job done the only down side to using Johnson was that no matter what he always dressed like a lumber jack and his overconfidence could be very annoying. But there was no reason form him to go out of contact. "How long has it been he last checked in?"

The man pull out a piece of paper saying. "He last radioed in around one in the afternoon yesterday he reported that the animal that came through was a rabbit in a police uniform. He also reported that given the uniform he had decided it was too risky to take it alive but he was unable to eliminate the target because of what he described as 'A teenager on a hunting trip' inter feared. He said that he had both the teenager and the rabbit cornered. He reported that he had offered the teenager a way out but the kid refused and put a round in his vest. He then returned fire and while he hadn't killed the kid he had shot him. He said that he had charged their position but he hadn't expected the rabbit to have a handgun and was forced back, and that he took a second round to his vest in the process. When I asked if he need back up he said and I quote 'No I under estimated that little prick and that damn bunny. But it's not going to happen again they're trapped and the kid is hurt all I have to do is wait them out. Sooner or later they'll try to run and when they're out of their little hiding spot I'll be waiting.'." When the man finished he lowered the piece of paper.

"So let me get this straight." He said to the man in a low cold voice. "Johnson reported that a rabbit police officer came through and _a teenager... on a hunting trip!_" Now he was full on yelling at the man. "Stopped him from dealing with it! And that he had been shot multiple times and you didn't send anyone to back him up just because he said 'No'! And here it is 9:45 in the morning nearly twenty-one hours after Johnson last reported in and I'm only now hearing about this? Why!?"

"Johnson is one of our best so I didn't question him when he said he didn't need back up." The man said hastily. "And he said he was going to wait them out. And since even a retarded monkey would wait for nightfall before running I figured they would to which means Johnson wouldn't be able to deal with them until well after dark. So I figured Johnson would check in some time this morning. But when he didn't and we couldn't reach them I came to tell you."

"Fine that's acceptable." He grumbled. "Has the recovery team reported in yet?" When the man simply stared at him like a deer in head lights he had to resist the urge to cross the room and beat the man. "Go and send a recovery team to his last known position. And when your done with that have Daniel Carstin get in here. Now!" He shouted the last word as loud as he possibly could causing the man to nearly tripped over himself in his hurry to get out of the door.

He plopped back down into his chair and began massaging his temples again. Hopefully as the head of security for his organizations Daniel would be able to help him sort out this whole mess.

Anthony's POV

He held his right hand up trying to shield his face from the snow being blasted so hard by the wind it felt like sand. It was a little after 1:00 and the wind had started to pick up about half an hour ago. They had stopped to stretch their legs, grab a snack, and go to the bathroom. Now he was standing by the ATV staring at the black clouds gathering around the peaks miles from them.

"What are we going to do when the storm hits us?" Judy said yelling over the sound of the wind seeming to appear by his right side out of no where making him jump. luckily she seemed to have come back to herself in the last few hours her ears were up and she was acting normal.

"It's not going to hit us." He yelled back and at her skeptical look he continued saying. "The wind down here is blowing towards us but the wind up were the clouds are is blowing away from us. You can tell by the way the clouds are moving. And look at how the clouds are shaped that's the tail end of the storm. That means the storm is south of us and is heading south. So all we'll have to deal with is this wind. And as much as it sucks it's actually a good thing. Because it's covering up our tracks, look." He said pointing the way they had came and as they watched the wind shifted the snow completely erasing the ATV's tire tracks. "Which means If anyone does come looking for that bastard they won't have a trail to follow us with. But I have to admit it's making it fu-"

He cut himself off when Judy suddenly turned around looking behind them. Knowing the power of bunny radar he grabbed the AR from the back of the ATV bringing it up in a ready position as he turned around. He scanned the trees around them and asked. "What do you hear Fluff?"

"I thought I just heard a helicopter." Judy answered.

A helicopter? With this kind of wind anything smaller than a jumbo jet would be grounded. "Are you sure Fluff?" He asked looking down at her. "It's really windy it would be crazy to try and fly a helicopter in this. Maybe the wind is playing tricks on you?"

Judy shook her head. "I'm sure."

He switched his gaze to the sky he put his eye to the scope and tried to see if he could see anything. He lowered the rifle saying. "I don't see any thing Fluff."

"I know what I heard." She said defensively.

He may not have heard or seen the helicopter but he doubted Judy would just make something like that up. He was starting to get a bad feeling a very bad feeling. He quickly turned back around put the AR back and grabbed a orange reflective belt (the only belt he had with him) strapped it around his middle then unzipped his jacket down to the belt saying. "We need to get out of here now Fluff."

"But I thought you said-" She gave a startled 'eep!' as he grabbed her around the middle and quickly put her in his jacket then zipped it up around them both. "Hey!" She shouted glaring at him as he jumped onto the ATV.

"Sorry Fluff." He said as he sped down the trail as fast as he could without losing control. "But if your right and there is a helicopter. I can guarantee you that it's not from town so ask yourself who would have a reason to risk crashing just to flying out here to the middle of no where with such strong winds?"

"You don't mean?" She asked her look of worry telling him she had put two and two together.

"Yeah it's most likely whoever that bastard worked for." He said. "And if it is them how long do think it'll take them to find his body? And what do you think the odds are that they'll use that helicopter to try and find us?" Judy's eyes widened in response. "My point exactly."

...

It was more than a hour before he felt comfortable slowing down from his break neck speed. Even then they kept both their eyes and ears open for the helicopter but they didn't hear or see it. The rest of the day went without incident and as he expected it was well after dark when they finally pulled out of the woods and onto the main road heading for town.

"How long till we get to your house?" Judy asked tiredly.

"We aren't going to my house." He answered fighting to keep his eyes open.

"Why not?" Judy asked.

"Because I already have a deal with a friend who's family runs a motel. And I don't know about you but I want to sleep in tomorrow." He said as he pulled the ATV into the motel parking lot. He turned off the engine and got off the ATV and headed towards the office. "Hey Fluff your going to have to hide in my jacket for a little bit." At her raised eyebrow he said. "Fluff as much as I'd love to see Jack faint at the sight of a talking rabbit. The longer it takes to get the room key the longer it'll take for us to get some sleep." Judy nodded then pulled her head into his jacket right before he opened the office door.

Jack was sitting behind the desk with his glasses reflecting the light of his phone and his short light brown hair sticking up at odd angles. Jack looked up when he heard the door open. Jack smiled when he saw Anthony and said in his deep voice. "Dang man you look like something out of the Walking Dead."

Anthony couldn't help but chuckle at that saying. "Yeah I'd have to agree with you on that one." Then he smiled ready with a joke of his own. "And is it possible that your voice got even deeper in the last five days?"

"And what's wrong with having a deep voice?" Jack asked crossing his arms and cocking an eyebrow.

"Oh nothing's wrong with it Jack." He said innocently. "It's just your a short scrawny little white guy who both acts and looks the definition of a Nerd. But if somebody only heard your voice they'd expect a big burly biker not..." He gestured at all of Jack. "..this. It's false advertising is all I'm saying."

"Oh really?" Jack asked with an evil smile. "This coming from the guy who looks like he could be a pro football player but sounds like his balls haven't dropped yet."

"Oh ho ho. How about you come out from behind that desk and say it to my face you walking Q-tip." He said with a smile.

"How about this." Jack said reaching under the desk. "I just give you your room key so you can get some sleep and I can get back to my manga."

Anthony reached out and grabbed the key from Jack saying. "Sounds like a plan. See you tomorrow man." He turned and headed for the door. As he opened the door he stopped and turned back to Jack. "Hey Jack."

"Hmm?" Jack responded looking up.

"If you arrange a wake up call for me like you did last time I'll skin you alive. And I wont be the only one." He said.

"Oh really?" Jack asked rolling his eyes. "What you find yourself a girlfriend out there in the woods?"

Anthony couldn't help but smile thinking _'If you only knew Jack. If you only knew'_ but he only said. "Weellll all I'm going to say is that you'd be surprised what you can find out there in the woods." At the confused look on Jack's face he left the office chuckling at the jab he received from Judy.

Once in the room he unzipped his jacket letting Judy out on to the bed.

"So that's Jack huh?" Judy asked as she sat down on the bed.

"Yeah he's a character isn't he." He said taking off his jacket and checked his bandages. "Really the main reason we're friends is because we both have the same sense of humor."

Judy just shook her head. Then he said. "I call the recliner you get the bed." Judy opened her mouth no doubt to argue but he spoke up before she could say a word. "Don't even Fluff. Chalk it up to male pride if you want but you get the bed end of story. Besides sleeping in the recliner is probably the best option for me since I wont be able to toss and turn thus keeping me from hurting my shoulder anymore then it already is." He plopped down in the recliner popped out the foot rest and leaned all the way back. He gave a very content sigh and said his eyes already half closed. "This is _soo_ much better than a sleeping bag." And he was out.

Judy's POV

She was in a slight state of shock she just couldn't believe just how quickly Anthony had fallen asleep. She knew he must be exhausted but to pass out faster then a burned out light bulb took it to a whole new level. She looked over at the pillow on the bed. While the bed and sheets smelled a little musty they were calling out to her. She took off her her ZPD belt placing it on the night stand then curled up under the blanket. She had to agree with him on one thing this was '_soo_ much better than a sleeping bag'.

...

When she woke up she yawned and stretched before sitting up her ears popping up into their usual position. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust once they did she realized that while the curtains were drawn it was obviously light outside and that Anthony wasn't in the chair anymore. She looked around and saw Anthony still shirtless with his badges off sitting on the counter by the sink outside of the bathroom as he used the mirror to pick at his wounds with a pair of tweezers.

She slid off the bed and walked toward him. He must have caught her movement in the mirror because he threw a real quick glance in her direction.

"Morning Fluff." He said.

"Morning." She said back. "What time is it?"

"A little past eleven." He answered.

"What are you doing?" She asked cocking her head slightly.

He glanced down at her again saying. "The problem about bullets is they carry little bits of whatever they go through with them. in this case they carried bits of my cloths all through out my shoulder and arm. I need to clean out all the bits of cloth or I'm really risking a major infection."

"Why can't we just go to a hospital?" She asked. In the time she'd been in the ZPD she hadn't had to deal with gun shot wounds yet, but growing up on a farm she knew just how serious and infection could be.

"Well one: This is a small town Judy which means a small hospital. And more then likely the doctor who'd see me would be my friend Susan and while I have no doubt Susan could fix these up in no time. I also have no doubt that she'd tell my mom -who works there in the ER- and one way or another most of the town will find out that I was shot. Which could lead whoever is after you right to us." He hissed and she watched feeling a bit queasy as he pulled a long bloody piece of string from his shoulder. "And outside my family and a few of my friends I don't know if anyone else in town can be trusted, not that they'd hand us over but they might accidentally say some something without meaning too."

"So what are we going to do?" She asked.

"Thankfully it's winter time so the meat I got will be fine." He said. " So I'm in no rush. So when we leave here we'll head to the hospital to see Susan. -I just call her Doc- She said she could see us at 1:00. She and her husband are among my few friends, I trust her. So I'll get her to look you over, however we are going to keep the fact that someone tried to kill us and that I was shot quiet. She, her husband, and my mom will throw a fit if they find that out. And that makes it all the more likely others will find out about you. And that will make it more likely that whoever is after you will find us."

"And then what?" She asked.

"And then...I don't know." He said looking down at her. "We'll come to that when we get there. All I really know is we have to get you some cloths and other day to day things." She sighed knowing that, that was the best she could expect right now. "I'm going to use the bathroom.

"Alright I'll be here Fluff." He said turning his attention to his arm.

She went into the bathroom shutting the door behind herself and once her more demanding needs were dealt with she took the bandage off her ear and inspected it in the mirror. She hated to see that Anthony was right that the gash on her ear was going to need stitches and was going to leave a big scare at least an inch and a half long. But upon closer inspection she saw a second tear branched up and out from the middle of the main tear back out towards the edge of her ear creating a kind of sideways Y shape. If it had gone just a little bit farther she would have lost a chunk of her ear. She let out a sigh before stripping out of her Kevlar vest and uniform before climbing into the shower.

She fully relaxed her muscle as she felt hot water run through her fur. She closed her eyes and let her mind going blank. But the mental bliss only lasted a short while before her mind turned back to everything that had happened.

And for the first time she was able to actually make some sense of it all. While she didn't know if she could ever get back to Zootopia and the thought of never going back was very depressing to her, a part of her suspected that it was most likely completely out of her control. Somebody was trying to kill her. She didn't know if they were the ones who brought her here in the first place or not. If it was them she could only imagine how many Zootopians they had done this too and knew that they would do it to. And if it wasn't them once again she could only imagine just how many Zootopians this had happened too since whoever they are seemed to know where she'd be and had been waiting for her when she got pulled through. Then there was the fact that unless there were other Zootopians alive in this world she was the only intelligent mammal that wasn't a human. Which meant she wasn't the just alone she was the only one of her kind. And while she didn't know what to think about him right now Anthony was probably the only mammal she could trust. But he said that he kills and eats rabbits...

She shut down that train of thought for now and concentrated on getting clean. She grabbed two small bottles labeled shampoo and conditioner with a nice floral scent rubbing both bottles through out her fur. Once she was clean and rinsed off she turned off the water and grabbed the towel hanging up on the towel rack. She started to dry her face and was surprised when her nose was filled with Anthony's now familiar campfire and pine needle scent.

_'He must have taken a shower before I woke up'_ She realized. She looked around for another towel but other than a few wash cloths by the sink there was no other towels in the bathroom. She had just thought how odd it was for even a small motel like this to have only one when she remembered vaguely seeing a small linen cupboard fill with towels just outside the bathroom. She groaned she considered asking Anthony to hand her another a fresh towel but she was most likely going to be in Anthony's jacket again today so it wouldn't matter if she got his scent on her now. Once she was mostly dry she hung the towel back up on the towel rack. She walked over to her uniform and sighed as she held the fabric in her paw. While she loved her uniform after two nights of being slept in it was all creased and wrinkled. But now that she was here (where ever here was) she didn't know if she'd ever have a reason to wear it again once she got some new clothes. And just like that her eyes began to sting and they began to water. As if a dam somewhere inside her had broken and all the fear, pain, and loss that she had been trying her best to ignore that she pretended didn't exist came flooding out all at once overwhelming her.

She put a paw over her muzzle as she choked back a sob. But her emotions wouldn't be ignored any longer. Her ears laid flat against her back as tears flowed down her face staining her fur. It wasn't long before she fell to her knees and tried to curl up into a ball with one paw over her mouth and one paw clutching the top of her uniform to her chest as she sobbed. She had spent her whole life working towards being a cop and now that had been ripped away from her. She might have been able to bear that if she still had Nick, still had her parents, her siblings, or any of her friends at the precinct. But she was alone completely alone trapped in some strange unknown place and she'd never see anyone she cared about again.

There was a light knock at the door and she heard Anthony ask. "Fluff you okay in there?" She didn't answer she wanted to be alone but he knocked again louder this time asking. "Judy are you alright?"

"Go away." She managed to choke out between her sobs. Her last thin strand of control snapped and she completely broke down.

Anthony's POV

He could hear Judy crying her eyes out on the other side of the bathroom door but he had no clue what to do. He had hoping something like this wouldn't happen until he had introduced Judy to his mom or Susan. Cause he had expected this to happen it was only a matter of time, but in a situation like this he was useless. Sure with his own emotional issues and losses in his family he could only imagine all to well what Judy must be feeling right now. As her sobs turned into wails of pure misery every cry she made tore at him. He wanted nothing more then to help her. But he didn't have a clue as what to do or say to help her, and even if he did she was in the bathroom and had just gotten done with a shower so he had no idea if it was even safe to go in.

_**'Stop over thinking it. Right now she's in a bad place a far worse place then we were when dad died.'**_ One of the voices in head said quickly gaining support from many other parts of his mind. _**'She's basically lost everyone and everything she has ever cared about. Imagine if that was us.'**_ His whole mind flinched at the thought. _**'Exactly and since as far as we know she will never see any of them again. She is in as dark of a hole as you can get and she wont be able to get out of it alone. It doesn't matter what you do or say with her so close to the edge even something small could be enough to pull her back. And since this is the first time she's breaking because of all of this, she'll either break into a few pieces or shatter into a million your choice but once the damage is done it's done.'**_

Judy's POV

She was being crushed. Someone had reached into her chest and was crushing heart. She kept seeing images Of her parents, Nick, the Chief, and all the rest of her friends and family. She kept remembering every smile, every happy moment and it made it so much more painful. Each memory hurt more then the last and each one felt like a punch to the gut. A small part of her had even began to wish that Anthony hadn't saved her that she had just died before she even knew what had happened. She was so consumed by her misery she hadn't notice that Anthony had come into the bathroom until he pulled her up on to his lap.

She reacted by punching and kicking every part of him she could reach all the while screaming at him. "Leave me alone!", "Get away from me!", and "Go away!" at the top of her voice. But even as she screamed this at him she didn't try to get away instead she attacked him. He became the object of all her pain and anger. She hated him. She blamed him for everything that had happened. She wanted to hurt him she didn't care how she just wanted to hurt him badly. And instead she started screaming "I hate you!" and "It's all your fault!" at him over and over.

But it wasn't long before he had encircled her in his arms effectively trapping her arms and legs pressing her against his chest. And while he held her firmly thous preventing her from hitting him like she wanted he was careful not to hurt her. Then he started rocking back and forth slowly petting her ears while saying softly. "Shh...Shh... Calm down Judy it'll all turn out okay. You can't give up now. Because as long as your alive you have a purpose, you have a reason for being alive. And remember everyone you lost is still alive as long as that's true you have a chance to see them again. It'll turn out alright in the end you'll see." After that he just kept rocking her making calming and soothing noises as he stroking her ears.

All the red hot anger drained out of her just as fast as it had appeared. She just slumped against him and kept crying. After a while she just felt empty all her energy had drained away with the tidal wave of emotion.

...

When she opened her eyes she was back in the bed curled up under the covers and her uniform was on the night stand beside her. She got the feeling that she hadn't been out for long. She lifted her head and looked around. The curtains were still drawn and the lamps were still on but Anthony wasn't there. She slid off the bed and grabbed her uniform, underwear, and vest getting dressed but her movements were that of a robot. Once she was dressed she stood there running her thumb over her badge. Her ears perked up and she turned towards the door when she heard the doorknob rattle. She watched as Anthony stepped into the room closing the door behind him, as his gaze instantly went to the bed then shifted around the room until he saw her. He just looked at her with a very worried expression on his face.

She was the first to speak. "H-how long was I out?"

"Not long, about half an hour." Anthony answered simply still looking at her with worry. She got the distinct impression he was trying to read her.

Not wanting the silence to start up again she asked. "Where did you go?"

The corners of his mouth twitched upwards and his eyes filled with amusement as he said. "Oh I went to the office Jack and his parents got a report that a woman was being assaulted in here from the people in the next room."

"What!" She asked shocked. And guilt filling her at the thought of him being accused of a crime because of her.

He just shrugged saying. "Nothing to worry about Fluff. Our 'neighbors' are a construction worker and his wife on a cross country trip. They were waiting in the office when I got there as were Jack and his parents. I told the couple that you were my girlfriend and that you had just gotten a call telling you that your parents were killed in a car crash while on vacation. And that the shouts of 'I hate you!' and 'It's your fault!' were because I had convinced you to come on a camping trip here with me instead of going with your parents. That you were convinced that if you had been there you could have stopped it from happening. I think I did a pretty good job with that little story." He shrugged again then chuckled. "After they apologized for jumping to conclusions the wife actually gave me some pretty good relationship advice that I'll have to try and remember for later. But naturally Jack and his parents saw straight through my little lie. So once the couple left I gave them the basic run down, no details or anything just the basics. That I met someone in the woods, she was attacked, I protected her, the shock of everything hit her really hard this morning, and I wasn't going to tell them anything else and they couldn't say anything to anyone since whoever attacked her might still be after her. They excepted my explanation -they weren't to happy about it- but they excepted it none the less. So all's well that end's well."

She blinked a few times her mind processing what he said. "But I thought that you said that the fewer people that know about me the better?"

He nodded saying. "That's true. But since that couple thinks that my 'girlfriend'-" He said doing air quotes. "-tragically lost her parents in an accident and since they are going to the other side of the country. They not going to be an issue. As for Jack and his parents all they know is that I'm protecting someone I found in the woods and that they need to keep their mouths shut because whoever tried to kill her might still be after her. Nobody has any real details so we should be in the clear."

She looked down at the carpet. While letting out so much negative emotion had helped some it was all still there hanging over her like a dark cloud. And while Anthony had been able to talk himself out of it he had been accused of a serious crime it was because of her that it had happened and that only added to that dark cloud.

"Fluff. Look at me." She looked up to see that Anthony had closed the distance between them so that they were only a few feet apart, and had knelt down leaned forward so that they were close the same height. "Are you okay?"

The question felt like a shard of glass but she spoke with forced confidence. "You don't have to worry, I'm fine."

"No your not." He said simply. She opened her mouth to argue but nothing came out. She was effectively pinned by his gaze while his gaze was caring it did demand the truth. "Your not fine. Not even close. So let me rephrase my question. Are you okay enough to leave? Because if your not Jack's parents already said that we could stay here till tomorrow morning."

A part of her wanted to stay to hide and wallow in her self pity but her pride wouldn't have it. Instead she took a deep breath before saying. "I'm good to go whenever you are. Besides you already made the appointment."

Anthony watch her for a moment before his eyes softened. "Alright we'll go I'll leave the room key in here and send them a text." After a few moments of watching him tap on his phone he reached out and grabbed the reflective belt from the chair strapping it around his middle.

"Alright Fluff into the jacket." He said playfully. She felt a smile half form on her muzzle only to be replace with more horror and guilt as he unzipped his jacket and she got a clear view of his chest. His chest covered by a number of small cuts and scratches, and most of his chest was covered in freshly formed bruises.

"Fluff." He said lightly getting her to meet his gaze. She was surprised that there was none of the accusation or anger in his eyes like she had expected. Instead they were reassuring. "I'm fine. I'll admit your nails hurt, you have a real mean swing, and your kick is even meaner. But this isn't the first time I've been covered in bruises so I'm pretty use to it. Besides for me that usually meant a hospital stay and some broken bones, so this is't all that bad."

She didn't know what horrified her more the fact that she had hurt him when he had tried to help her or that he was so use to things like it that he could just brush it off.

"Come on let's go." He said helping her into his jacket. And while she was as careful as she could be she still felt him flinch as she touched the bruises. As he walked out of the room she shivered slightly as the wind hit her, while it wasn't as strong as yesterday it was still freezing. Once they were back at the ATV Anthony looked down at her saying. "Fluff your going to need to hide in my jacket again, can't have people seeing a rabbit head sticking out of my jacket. That would lead to a lot of questions and most likely people will fainting when they realize you can talk."

She laid her ears back and shifted her body so that her head was was inside his jacket but so that she could still see him. "That's the second time you've said that someone would faint when they meet me. Why do you keep saying that."

She shook as Anthony laughed and heard the ATV's engine roared to life and they began to move. "You remember the rabbit from yesterday right Fluff?"

She shuddered at the reminder of the rabbit. The rabbits eyes had, had the typical warmth of life in them. But they had seemed empty, hollow like there was nothing behind them. "Yes." She said grimly.

"Well since that's how rabbits have always been through out all of human history. I just have a funny feeling that you'll have a very dramatic effect on people." Anthony said with a grin.

"So why didn't I cause you to faint?" She asked. She was silently thankful for the light hearted distraction.

She shook as he laughed again then he said. "I probably would have if I hadn't just been hit by lightning. I wasn't feeling so good when you appeared and I honestly though you were a hallucination or something. It wasn't until I realized that you were in danger did I realize that you were very real. Thank god for that cause if a nut case like you were a figment of my imagination I'd be in some real trouble." She quickly elbowed him in the ribs causing him to flinch before laughing again. "Your hitting people, you must be feeling better." He said teasingly. She couldn't help but smile and shake her head at him he really was reminding her a lot about Nike since they seemed to have a similar sense of humor. "There we go. There's the smile I was looking for. Seems like my little plan worked."

She just shook her head again before saying. "How about you tell me about your town because it sounds like a lot of traffic for a small town."

"We're on the main road right now it's one of the few roads that goes through the mountain range so we get a decent amount of through traffic people going from one side of the mountains to the other. So the main road has some motels, fast food restaurants, some gas stations, and a decent sized grocery store. But the town is about a mile through the trees off my left shoulder." She could see quick glimpses of the tops of trees and the tops of buildings on either side of them. But otherwise she had no way of telling where they were or where they were going. "About ten years ago the towns population was about 23,000. But then the housing market crashed and because of that the two lumber yards and the saw mill closed down and the main source of money for the town was gone over night. So now the population is only about 9,000 now."

"9,000 really, that's it?" She asked her surprise leaking into her voice. "Yeah. Hard for someone from Bunnyburrow and Zootopia to imagine huh. But that's one of the reasons why me and my family moved out here since so many people left so quickly the houses were dirt cheap." Anthony said simply.

"And what were the other reasons you move out here?" She asked. She watched as his face went from relaxed and calm to being completely expressionless, it was like a door had slammed blocking her out. A defense she was all to familiar with.

"It's not important, it's not that big of a deal." He said then he relaxed again and said. "So anything else you want to know?"

She shook her head. She wanted to get more answers from him so she could figure out the kind of mammal he was. And while she had been able to force a few answers from him yesterday, she doubted she could do it again not without causing problems.


	5. The calm before the storm part 2

Anthony's POV

Riding through town was as normal as ever. Nobody gave him a second glance not caring what he was doing or where he was going but it didn't stop him from glancing around trying to spot someone who might be watching him. Once he pulled into the hospital parking lot he tensed up. His biggest worry was that since they'd be up close to other people in the hospital that someone would notice the lump Judy made in his jacket.

"Hey Fluff." He said looking down at Judy getting her attention. "We'll going to need to change up positions."

"What do you mean?" She asked sounding confused.

"The lump you make in my jacket is a bit noticeable close up. So unless I turned into a girl without knowing it we need to try something a bit more low key." He answered trying for a joke, but he didn't really think it work and judging by the look on Judy's face she agreed. "Yeah I know not my best joke. It was just the first thing that popped into my head. Any who if I tuck in my jacket and tighten the belt around my waist that should allow you to stand up in my jacket and make you less noticeable."

"But if my weight shifts your jacket I'm going to fall out." Judy argued looking skeptical. "Just tightening your belt and tucking in your jacket isn't going to change that. Plus I'm pretty sure I'm too tall."

"How tall are you 2' not counting the ears?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"I'm 2'-6" and a half." She said smugly.

"Okay your taller then I thought. Which makes sense since if you were a few inches taller you'd be level with my hip. I'll have to rethink my plan a bit." He knew that had to keep her hidden in his jacket since he had no other way to sneak her in. "Well if I grab one of my wrist in front of me I'll be able to make a kind of seat for. Then you can wrap your legs around me or have them hanging at my sides that'll keep you hidden in my jacket, that and as long as you hold onto me tight we shouldn't have any issues unless someone runs into us." It wasn't the best idea but it should work...in theory.

"But if someone stops you and if someone sees me..." She started in a tone like she was trying to come up with some kind of a battle plan.

"Wow, hold on there Fluff this isn't Mission Impossible. We don't have to sneak past armed guards here, all we have to do is keep you from falling while I sign in with the lady at the front desk and then wait for the Doc in one of the rooms. We just have to keep people from noticing you while we're in the halls alright?"

She nodded saying. "Alright." But it was all to obvious that she was still on edge.

"Look Fluff it'll be fine." He said reassuringly. He shifted his left arm so that he was cradling her, then he loosened the reflective belt so it hung loosely at his waist. Then he tucked in the end of his jacket and tightened the belt around his waist. Once he did that he gave Judy the go ahead and she carefully stood halfway up waking him in the face with her ears as she did. Judy muttered an apology laying her ears back down as he chuckled. Once he was supporting her weight with his hands she half wrapped her legs around his stomach, then she hugged his chest, and that's when he realize that they had a problem. Even with his jacket zipped all the way up the top of her head stuck out a few inches he could actually feel the fur on the top of her head brush against the underside of his chin.

"Well this is a problem." He muttered but luckily it was an easy fix. He kept his left hand supporting Judy's weight and fished out a red and blue striped scarf from his bags with his right before loosely wrapping it around his neck hiding her head. Then he clasped his right hand around his left wrist recreating the seat under Judy's rear and started walking towards the hospital entrance the plan seemed to be working but the only down side so far was that he couldn't bend or twist much, without the risk of hurting or revealing Judy. "You know the funny thing is I really didn't want to bring this scarf with me."

"Really?" She asked.

"Yeah. I argued with my mom for a hour over bringing it with me." He couldn't help but chuckle at the memory. "Red and blue just doesn't go well with winter camouflage so I wouldn't need it or have any use for it. But she guilt tripped me gave the whole 'I made this for you. I'm a mom it's what I do.' and the 'If you truly love me you'll take this with you.'. You know standard guilt trips that all moms use. And it turns out that I did have a use for it in the end." The only response he got from Judy was a small giggle but it meant that he was keeping her some what distracted and happy.

When he walked into the he saw that there where six other people in the waiting room. But he doesn't even bother sitting down instead he went and signed in at the reception desk, were a nurse directed him to an exam room not really paying much attention to him.

Once the nurse waked out closing the door behind her Judy spoke up asking. "Why didn't we need to wait?"

"Since the hospital is so small the head doctor is also the head administrator for the whole facility. And being really good friends with said person has it's perks." He said with a shrug. "It also helps that I never use that to my advantage unless it's an emergency and I have no choice. Which means that this is only the second time I've done it." And it was true he hated the idea of using his friendship with the Doc like that even if he had a very good reason to do it.

It had only been about twenty minutes before the door opened and the Doc walked in followed by her husband Mike who was the town Sheriff. The Doc was a black lady, she was bout 5'-7" she was wore glasses and was currently wearing a white lab coat over a pair of dark blue scrubs. Her hair was braided and pulled up into a bun and she had a very kind and round face. Mike was just as dark skinned as his wife, but he was easily 6'-5", built like a gorilla, with short cropped hair, and a scar running along the right side of his jaw. And was wearing your typical Sheriff's winter uniform which meant a long sleeve dark brown leather jacket, with a pair of light brown pants, and was complete with a black baseball cap with the word 'Sheriff' stitched into the front.

They both stepped in and closed the door behind them. Susan looked him up and down before saying. "So what's the emergency you said that you had someone for me to take a look at but your the only one here and you seem fine."

"I do have someone for you to look at. And it's not so much an emergency as it's something that should be kept quiet." He said nervously. He knew he might be able to fool Susan but Mike would see through any front he put up. But there was a small chance that if he played his cards right he might be able to pull one over on Mike, even so he did try his best to hide just how happy he was that the hospital bed was in between the three of them.

"Well if you do have someone for Susan to look at where are they?" Mike asked crossing his arms giving him a very serious look. "And why does it have to be a secret?"

Anthony took a deep breath ever since he had decided that they would come here he had been trying to think of a way to tell Susan but now he had to add Mike to the mix. In the end he decided that he'd have to just suck it up and show them and the idea of it terrified him, although a small part of him really wanted to record their reaction. The thought of recording their reactions seemed to make it slightly less terrifying and made it seem more like a joke. This helped him relax some even if it was just by a tiny bit. So using his right hand he pulled out his phone set it down so that it had a clear view of the room switched it to video and pressed record before turning back towards Mike and Susan.

"Okay. I do have someone for Susan to look at and she's here in the room. But the reason for the secrecy is because she's very different I'm sure that most people will freak out when they first meet her. And I'm have no doubt that some will react badly even after they get over the shock, I mean you know what happened to me just because I was a little different it would be far worse for her." He watched as both Mike and Susan exchanged a serious look.

He took another deep breath drawing their attention back to him. "Here goes nothing." He said before walking up the the hospital bed unwinding his scarf, unzipped his jacket (he was very careful not to let any of the bruises on his chest show), and helped Judy out onto the hospital bed. He quickly re-zipped his jacket then he and Judy waited for Mike's and Susan's reaction it only took a few second for them to relaxed and smile warmly at Judy.

"So you caught yourself a bunny and dressed her up in a cop costume." Mike said sounding very amused. "I'll admit you had us going there for a moment. It's a pretty well thought out prank, but I do have a question. How'd you get the uniform on the bunny."

"Oh forget about that." Susan said sending a small wave at her husband and bending closer to Judy. "I think she's the cutest thing I've ever seen." Anthony noticed Judy's ear twitched at the word 'cutest' he was amazed that she stayed calm but he was afraid what would happen if he didn't head this off. "What I want to know is how is she so calm. You must be really use to humans aren't you little one?" And to his horror Susan's hand went towards Judy as if to pet her.

"Doc!" He said quickly. "Don't. Pet. The bunny. Okay just back off for a second and please keep your hands to yourself please." Susan looked surprised but thankfully she straightened up and both she and Mike turned their attention completely on him. "Alright, Judy this is Mike Sullivan our town Sheriff. And this is his wife Susan Sullivan the head doctor and one of the only two veterinarians in town."

Both Mike and Susan looking both confused and concerned that he was introducing them to a bunny but that was nothing compared to how they looked when Judy she said in a voice that was very formal and a little cool. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan." Both Mike and Susan had mixed looks of shock and horror slowly spread across their faces until both of their eyes were bulging and their mouths hanging open. "I'm Judith Laverne Hopps of the Zootopian Police Department."

It was only a few second before he saw Susan's eyes rolled into the back of her head and her fall like a sack of hammers. "Doc!" He yelled as he bolted around the hospital bed. He knelt down beside her and started lightly tapping her face. "Doc! Doc wake up." After a minute of trying to wake her up he realized that Mike hadn't moved, that Mike hadn't noticed that Susan had fainted. Instead he was just staring at Judy looking like he was only seconds away from joining his wife on the floor.

Anthony quickly got up and grabbed his friend by the arm steadying him. "Mike come on you need to sit down or your going to fall down." As he guided Mike towards a chair Mike never once took his eyes off of Judy.

"It can talk. The rabbit can talk." Mike said sounding shell shocked as he sat down in a chair. "How can the rabbit talk?"

Anthony was starting to get worried he had expected a major reaction from both Mike and Susan but this was worse than he had thought. "I don't know. I guess it's the same way that we talk. But don't worry about that right now just try and calm down alright." Mike nodded in response and then put his head between his knees and placed his hat on the floor as he started taking deep breaths. He patted Mike on the back before looking at Judy smiling. "See I told you that you'd have a dramatic effect people." Judy looked very upset by both Mike's and Susan's reactions to her. "Don't sweat it Fluff they'll be okay. While there are many children stories and fairy tails about talking animals it's an undeniable fact of life that they're not real. Just like it's undeniable that the sky is blue or that water's wet. Seeing you just threw all those facts, all those absolute into serious question. Give them a little bit and they'll calm down, then give them a few days to a week and they'll be able to completely wrap their heads around the idea."

Judy still seemed upset but she nodded. He just hoped that it would happen sooner rather then later. He looked over Susan even though it had been a few minutes she was still out cold he didn't know how long it would take for her to wake up on her own. He stood up grabbed his phone and then walked to the sink but since there where no cups in the room instead he filled a rubber glove. He went over to Susan then upended glove. He was surprised to see her wake up he hadn't actually expected it to work.

"Doc you okay?" He asked as he helped her up.

"Yeah I think so." Susan answered straightening her glasses and wiping some of the water off of her face. "Why am I all wet?"

"You fainted and I had to wake you up so I poured some water on your face." She nodded then looked past him, he saw her eyes bulge then she scampered back like she had just seen the worlds biggest spider. "Doc just calm down okay. Yes there is a talking bunny, no it's not a dream. She's the one I need you to take a look at. That's why I brought her here."

Susan was jut staring at him like he was insane then Mike walked over placed a hand on Susan's arm saying. "Honey it's okay. I'm having a hard believing it but I think it's real. And judging by the uniform it's a cop."

"She." Anthony corrected gaining both of their attention. "She's a 'she' and her name is Judy. And yes when I say 'Judy' I do mean Judy Hopps of the ZPD."

Mike did a double take towards Judy then looked back at him saying. "You've got to be kidding me, it's just a movie it can't be real."

"I don't know if what happened in the movie was real or not but she definitely is real as you can see." At their dumb founded looks he turned and walked over to stand by Judy then turned back to Mike and Susan crossing his arms. "She quite literally appeared out of thin air. I brought her here because of that and because she has a cut on her ear that needs stitches."

He watched as despite getting the shock of the decade Mike instantly entered into cop mode as he asked. "What do you mean she just 'appeared' out of thin air'?"

"I mean that I was at the Knoll then I heard a electric sound like a downed power line or a taser except the noise was so loud it hurt my ears. Then bolts of lightning started to shoot off in every direction then Judy appeared eight feet in front of me and about five feet in the air. As soon as she appeared both the noise and the lightning stopped. I don't know what it was, a magical portal maybe. But that kind of electricity can do damage and she got sucked right through it. And she been under a lot of stress since then especially this morning." He explained. And out of the corner of his eye he saw Judy's shoulder slump slightly and both her face and ears fall.

"How did she get sucked through in the first place?" Mike asked in the same serious 'cop' voice. At the same time Susan slipped out the door muttering something about needing smaller equipment.

Judy took a deep breath. "Me and my partner were responding to a noise complaint and that's when I got sucked through."

"Where was the noise complaint? Who called it in? Was anything off about the scene? Was anyone else there besides you and your partner? Is it possible that someone outside of your department heard the dispatch call? Or is it possible that it was a trap set for you and or your partner specifically? And what did you get sucked through exactly?" Mike fired off like it was an interrogation.

"Wow hold it Mike..." He started but Judy went right over him

"The noise complaint was in a bad area of the Savanna Central, at an old abandoned warehouse. There were numerous citizens that call it in. One stated that it sounded like a thunder storm inside the warehouse. We investigated and found no one on the scene. If it was a trap there were a dozen easier places there to ambush us. Also they had no guarantee that we would be the ones to get the call." Judy answered adopting that same 'cop' tone as Mike. "The only thing we found was a large white crack in the wall of a room that looked like it use to be used for dry storage or maybe a freezer. One way in, one way out there was only one vent going into the room. The crack it self while we could see, hear, and smell it, it was leaving almost no physical evidence. My partner touched the crack and got a few minor burns after that the crack widened, started shooting off lightning, and sucking in massive amounts of air. Our Chief arrived and saved my partner but I was sucked through. Next thing I knew I was in a field and Anthony was there."

After that the two kept going over the finer details. Anthony chuckled at how the two kept throwing around cop jargon like they talked to each other every day. His amusement didn't go unnoticed and earned him funny looks from the pair. "What I think it's funny that the two big city cops are bonding over a debrief."

"Huh...if that's funny how did you 'bond' she seems to trust you pretty well. I mean she was inside your jacket." Mike shot back.

"Extreme circumstances." He said simply then gestured to Judy's ear. "She got the cut from a couple of wolves that thought she was a snack. Like I said she was only about eight feet in front of me so firing a few shots was enough to get them to tuck tail and run."

"Makes sense I guess." Mike said nodding then looked confused. "But what are the odds that two wolves would be there when she appeared?"

He didn't even hesitate with his answer. "Just about the same odds that I'd be there when she appeared especially during this time of year."

Mike seemed to except that as he nodded his head again. Then they all turned towards the door as Susan came back in pulling a cart.

Judy's POV

As Doctor Sullivan came back into the room she turned towards them and said. "Boys would you please go wait out in the hall while I look over...Officer Hopps."

"No problem Doc." Anthony said. He then reached out and lightly patted her shoulder before following the Sheriff out past the Doctor.

"Alright...umm Officer could you please remove your vest and uniform?" Dr. Sullivan asked seeming hesitant.

She sat on the edge of the bed and did as she was asked so that she was only in her underwear. Dr. Sullivan hesitated then pulled up a stool putting on a stethoscope and then placing it on her chest telling to take deep breaths in and out. The whole time the Doctor really seemed on edge. "Doctor Sullivan are you okay?"

"Please call me Susan." Susan responded. "And...I'm okay it's just..."

"Susan I'm not going to hurt you or anyone else." She said trying her hardest to let Susan know that she didn't have to be nervous or afraid.

"I know Anthony wouldn't trust you otherwise. And he doesn't trust anyone." Susan said then she hesitated again. "It's just...a talking rabbit is a lot to wrap my head around."

Susan seemed to shut down a bit so Judy tried changing the subject. "How did you meet your husband?"

A small smile spread across Susan's face. "We both use to live in a large city called New York. I was a nurse in an emergency room. Mike was a cadet fresh out of the academy and he took on five gang members on at once in a fist fight."

"What?" Judy didn't know what she had expected but this wasn't it.

"Yeah." Susan gave a small laugh. "There had been an area were a large number of muggings kept occurring. But the muggers were smart the slightest hint of cops being in the area and nothing happened, but the moment the cops were gone..."

"The mugging started again." Judy finished for her she had seen similar cases in Zootopia.

"Exactly. So Mike took it upon himself to dress in civilians and walk right into the muggers trap. He won but got beaten pretty bad in the process his captain chewed him out for half an hour in the ER about him being so reckless." Both of them shared a laugh. "But he was so smug that because of him they got all the evidence needed to convict the gang members for all of the muggings. He kept going on about it. After that we ran into each other a few more times each time he was overly confident and asked for my number until I finally gave it to him. We got married a year later."

Judy couldn't help but smile it was a great story and Susan seemed to be relaxing some. "So how'd you two of meet Anthony? Isn't odd for a teenager to be friends with a married couple?"

"I guess it could be seen as odd but in truth nearly all of Anthony's friends are adults. He has maybe two friends who are around his age including my daughter Alex. It's just how he is some times he acts his age but other times -usually when it really counts- he acts ten years older then he really is. And it doesn't help that he really doesn't trust anyone especially anyone his own age." Then Susan gave her a small sad smile as she put a blood pressure cup on her arm. "I met Anthony in a very similar way to Mike. His first day of school here in town Anthony was jumped by six other kids on his way home. Despite his size they beat him pretty badly he didn't even see it coming until he was on the ground." Judy felt her gut clench she knew all too well what it was like bullied but this was at a whole new level. Susan simply wrote down her blood pressure and then started taking her pulse. "He fought back but he lost. I wish I could say it was the only time it happened but he was attacked repeatedly. Because of that both me and Mike got to know Anthony pretty well."

"Why didn't you stop the ones responsible?" She just couldn't understand why they had let all that happen.

"We tried we knew what was happening but they were smart they attack where no one would see so there were six boys with the same story with only Anthony saying otherwise. There was nothing we could do." Susan said sadly.

"Has it stop?" She asked and Susan nodded in response. "How?"

"At first he only fought in self defense. Then he started getting back at them with practical jokes and pranks. He use to said 'They may have beaten me when no one else was around. But I embarrassed them when everyone was looking'." Susan shook her head chuckling. "The only time he ever actually challenged them to a fight was last year when they went after his little brother."

"What?" She gasped. Hearing that all this happened to Anthony was bad enough but she had seen first-paw that he could handle himself, but that happening to a little child horrified her.

Susan nodded coldly as she used a Otoscope to check inside her nose and ears. "When Anthony found out that his bullies had attack his eleven year old brother he went on the war path. He challenged the ring leader and his two closest cronies in front of the whole school during lunch. He beat all three of them even though they used every dirty trick in the book. He had every opportunity to beat them like they had beaten him but once they were on the ground he stopped. He gave them one heck of a talking to though."

Judy looked away and started thinking. If that had been Anthony's life then it was no wonder that even with him being so injured he was able to hide the pain and pretend it wasn't there. And from what Susan had told her that Anthony had always had the protective instinct that had saved her back in the field. But even hearing all this she got the sinking feeling that there was still a lot she hadn't learned yet. And while hearing the abuse he had been through horrified and disgusted her she was afraid of what else she would learn.

"Excuse me Officer I have a question for you." Susan said drawing Judy away from her thoughts. "Of all the questions you've asked you haven't asked 'why?'." The look Susan gave her was one that made her feel like a kit being questioned about cookie crumbs on her paws.

"Anthony told me about his growth and mood disorders. And that some mammals treated him like a freak." She admitted. And she couldn't help but notice that Susan's eyes widened slightly. "What?"

"Like I said Anthony really doesn't trust others." Susan said simply. "He doesn't open up to people easily not unless he trust them or he has no other choice."

She didn't know what to think about that. She was learning new things about Anthony fast and her mind was spinning.

Anthony's POV

After he and Mike left the room they went and got a couple sodas then they waited in the hallway. As they waited Mike filled him in on everything he missed around town since he left to go hunting. After a little while Susan stuck her head out and said they could come back in. Judy was still sitting on the bed he could see the stitches in her ear she seemed okay but she was giving him a funny look. He turned to Susan and asked. "So what's the verdict Doc ?"

"Well like you said her ear needed stitches. Also her heart rate is higher then it should be but that's most likely from stress. Otherwise she seems fine." Susan said. "How'd she get that cut anyways?"

Before he could answer Mike spoke up. "Anthony said she got it from couple wolves that took a swipe at her."

Susan looked very confused. "Really? 'Cause that doesn't look like it was caused by a wolf's claw. If it was it would have been much more ragged the tear on her ear is like something fast punched through her ear or something semi sharp like a cats claw."

He felt his stomach drop. Of course he knew Susan was a ER nurse back in New York and that she's treated more than her fair share of injuries since they moved to town six years ago. But he had never for a moment thought his little cover story wouldn't hold up. Susan had basically all but said that Judy had been shot not clawed, and he couldn't tell how in the hell she could figure that out. Okay he just had to calm down and roll with it try and get her to believe the cover story.

"Your right the cut would be more ragged if it was in her arm or some where else." He said quickly. "Remember when Alex got that earring ripped out of her ear. It was an obviously tear but it was relatively clean. Same principle the claw punched through her ear then ripped out, big tear but clean not ragged."

Susan hesitated and seemed to think it over before nodding. "Your right, I do remember that. Alex swore she'd never wear earrings again."

"Well with that out of the way there's only a couple thing left to figure out." Mike said crossing his arms and looking Anthony dead in the eye. "First thing is: just how badly are you hurt Anthony?" He smirked tried to brush it off but Mike stopped him. "Anthony don't try and distract me or deny it. Your limping so you probably aggravated your knee even though Susan told you to take it easy on this hunt since your knee isn't fully healed yet."

He avoided looking at Susan he could feel her glaring at him he was going to get the 'big sister' speech later he could feel it.

"But there's more then that." Mike continued. "Your favoring your left side, your moving like you have bruised ribs, and you cut up your shirt and are using it to patch up your camouflage I've only ever seen you do that if you got blood on yourself or something else that would leave a stain or that you couldn't wash out. So again how badly are you hurt?"

He was about to come up with an excuse when Judy piped up. "He was shot."

He turned and gave Judy a death glare.

"What?" Susan gasped.

"What do you mean he was shot? What happened?" Mike asked loudly sounding furious.

While he heard both Mike and Susan he didn't see their reactions he was to busy glaring at Judy trying to decide what he wanted to do more, yell at her or slap her. He wanted to keep it all quiet he didn't want anyone to know more then they needed to know and she just destroyed that plan completely with just three words.

"When I came through there was a man in the field waiting for me." Judy continued the whole time avoiding looking at him. "That man tried to kill me Anthony protected me and was shot twice both in his left side, one in his arm and one in his shoulder. And that's what happened to my ear a bullet ripped through it."

"Anthony." Mike said his name slowly in his cop voice making it very clear that right now they weren't friends Mike was a cop and he was a suspect. He turned towards Mike. "Is what she's saying true? You both were shot you both barley got away with your lives and you tried to hide the fact that there is currently a gun slinging lunatic out in the wood?"

He knew there was nothing he could say to make this go away. "You don't have to worry about him." He said quietly looking away from Mike.

"Don't have to worry about him?" Mike shouted obviously not believing what he said. "I need to know this so I can get a hunting party together to track this guy down and stop him before he can hurt anyone else. All you did was give him more time to cover his tacks and get away."

"Like I said you don't have to worry about him." He said coolly. Silently hoping Mike would just let it drop even though he knew it wouldn't happen.

"And why the hell don't I need to worry about a murdering psychopath?!" Mike yell getting right in his face.

His temper flared he look Mike in the eye and yelled right back. "Because I killed him!"

Mike looked dumb founded taking a step back, Susan just asked quietly. "What?"

"He tried to kill Judy, I saved her but we were trapped in the Knoll. I shot him in the chest with my 700 but he was wearing body armor the kind that the military and SWAT teams use so all my shot did was knock him down." He explained, hating that he was in a position that forced him to tell them. More then that he was afraid of how they were going react. He looked down at the floor as he continued. "That's when we both got shot. Then I came up with a crazy idea so Judy could get me my R25 and my machete. It worked, once she got them for me I cut my way out of the Knoll I flanked him and I shot him three times in the chest from fifty yards with my R25 all three punched through his armor. I sprinted the fifty yards I took his guns then I shot him in the head with his own 45."

Once he was done talking he just waited, waited for their reaction. But none came and he didn't have the nerve to look up at them. As the seconds ticked by and there was still no answer he could feel the panic boiling up in his chest and pushing it's way up into his throat making it feel like he had an apple stuck in his throat.

"It was self defense." Mike said gruffly.

He looked up and Mike didn't look angry he just looked worried and drained. Mike nodded at him saying. "I'll want all the details later but from what I'm hearing this is an obviously a clean cut case of self defense." He was relieved to hear Mike say that beyond relieved. But there was a part of him that wouldn't let it go, but he just nodded his head. Mike sighed. "Go ahead and say it Anthony. I know what's going through your head right now I've been there trust me when I say that saying it out loud helps."

He opened his mouth but he struggled to say what he felt but after a minute he said quietly. "Self defense or not I'm a murderer."

"No your not." Mike said simply. "You did what you had to do, and I'm sure that Officer Hopps would say same thing."

He turned to Judy and as soon as they made eye contact Judy said. "Mike's right. I don't like why you were there in the first place and I never will, but if you hadn't been there I be dead. And if you hadn't done what you did we'd both be dead."

He knew that, of course he did he'd been telling himself the same thing over and over again trying to convince himself that he did the right thing. But it wasn't enough, hearing both Mike and Judy say it helped. But there was one thing still bugging him. He looked back at Mike and said the one thing he thought would damn him. "But I enjoyed it Mike. Some twisted part of me enjoyed the feeling of pulling the trigger and watching the bullet go through his head."

Mike looked down for a moment then looked back up. "I don't think I ever told about the first time I had to kill as a cop did I?" He asked but he didn't wait for an answer. "He was just some gangster wanted for selling weed, then he shot and kill a cop from another precinct and in New York we don't play around with cop killers. Me and my partner spotted him by chance while on patrol. We chased him, we split up in the hope of trapping him. I came around the corner of an alleyway and saw my partner lying there in the middle of the alley not moving." The whole time Mike said this he sounded far away. "It turns out he had knocked my partner out with a piece of pipe then stole his gun, he left my partner alive and used him as bait. But I didn't know that I went straight to my partner but as soon as I got close the gangster came out from behind a dumpster and he leveled my partner's gun right at my chest. I didn't even hesitate I emptied half my clip into him. At the time I enjoyed it, I enjoyed killing him. He was cop killer, true I had never met the officer he killed. But in that moment I thought he had killed my partner and that he was about to kill me so I thought that he had got exactly what he deserved."

Mike's eyes never left his as he spoke. And nobody said anything for a moment then Susan walked over and pulled Mike into a reassuring hug. Then Mike took a shaky breath and continued. "That's what I thought until I found out my partner was alive and I had time to calm down and think about it. And I did exactly what your doing right now I started second guessing if there was another way. And when I decided there wasn't I dwelled on the fact that I didn't hesitate at all, that I enjoyed it. I kept asking myself how was I any different from that guy, from the murderers I had sworn to put behind bars. I thought I was a monster. But I wasn't and neither are you." Once again he got the impression the Mike was reading his mind as Mike said. "Like I said Anthony I know what's going on in your head right now. So I want you to think about it and give me only a yes or no answer. Do you honestly think even for a moment that either of you would be alive right now if you didn't kill that man."

He took a second to run through it all and came to the same answer he had every other time. "No."

"Then you did the right thing bud." Mike said softly. "Your one of the toughest teenagers I've ever known and I'd only be worried if you weren't beating yourself up over this. Just remember your not a monster, you did the right thing, and the more you talk about it the better you'll feel."

"That's right." Susan said coming across and pulling him into a tight hug which he returned. "And if you need to you talk to either of us you can anytime anywhere it doesn't matter."

"Thank's both of you that means a lot it really does." It was still gnawing at him and he had a feeling that it would be for a long time but hearing both of them say that was a massive relief.

As they broke apart Susan said. "Now you sit down and take off your jacket so I can see how badly you're hurt."

He did as he was told. "You didn't say how'd you get all these bruises and cuts?" Susan asked testing his ribs for any breaks.

"I got these from her" He said jerking his thumb towards Judy. Who's ears fell as she muttered an apology which he waved away. "Don't sweat it Fluff you didn't have any control over it I've been there I understand."

"What's this about?" Susan asked cocking her eyebrow.

"You remember what happen the first time I actually opened up to Mike? Well similar situation." He said. And not wanting Judy to feel like he had thrown her under the bus so he said it in a way that he knew that both Mike and Susan would understand.

"Ahh." Susan said sadly nodding then asked. "Is she okay?"

He looked over at Judy who seemed to be doing her best to block them out obviously not wanting to answer the question herself. He looked back at Susan and asked. "Was I?"

That got him another sad nod and Susan moved to his arm and shoulder. "You did a pretty good job cleaning these. Between the bruises and these it'll be at least a month before your back to a hundred percent. And you _will_ be wearing a knee brace for at least another week and that's not up for debate." Susan said fiercely making him gulp as he nodded quickly. Once he agreed Susan turned back to his injuries. "But you were lucky both of these shots went completely through and that the one that went through your shoulder went in at an angle and just barely missed your shoulder blade."

"Yeah well I think the one that went through my arm hit bone." He said then he groaned as Susan applied presser to his arm checking the bone for breaks.

"Well I don't feel anything. So the bullet most likely just nicked the bone, but there could be a fracture but I would need to take X-rays to be sure." Susan said.

"Wow there Doc I can still move my arm and shoulder, I can still lift a decent amount of weight So X-rays Shouldn't be necessary." He said quickly. The only way to get to the X-ray room from here was to go through the ER and there was no way he could do that without his mom finding out.

"Avoiding your mother are we?" Susan asked knowingly. "You know you'll have to tell her sooner or later. Because if you don't I _will._"

"I know Doc, I know." He said grudgingly being able to imagine his mom reaction all to well. "I was planning to hide it and keep all of this need to know but a certain _bunny_ made sure otherwise." He shot a look at Judy who looked only a little guilty but she mostly had a stubborn expression. "But since now I have to tell her I planned on telling her when she gets home tonight. She freaks out when I get attacked by bullies I'm sure you can imagine how she's going to react when she finds out I've been shot. And I want to keep this as quiet as possible I don't want anyone to know about Judy or what happened so that, that guy's friends can't find us."

"And what makes you think that guy wasn't working alone?" Mike asked.

"Like I said Mike he had body armor high grade stuff. And these..." He gestured to his bullet wounds. "...these weren't made from a hunting rifle. He had an AR-15 carbine and not the civilian version it's military grade. On top of that he had some kind of a high-tech listening device that let him hear us even though we were a hundred yards away, he had a megaphone, and a pair of night vision goggles."

Susan had frozen in the middle of grabbing bandages from a cabinet and just stared at him while Mike put a hand in front of his mouth and muttered. "Jesus Christ."

"Exactly. Most of that kind of gear is really hard to get and extremely expensive. And Mike what are the chances of him being in the right place at the right time for Judy to come through that portal or whatever it was. He may not have know the she specifically was coming through since he was armed and ready to kill something much bigger then her, but he was ready for someone to come through. You put all that together and there's no way he's working alone. Plus on our way back to town yesterday Judy heard a helicopter with the winds being as strong as they were yesterday I can only think of one reason someone would risk flying a helicopter to the middle of no where with those winds. And I'd be willing to bet if we go back to the field now his body would be long gone." When he finished Susan was still frozen but now Mike had a dark expression.

"You said you took his weapons right?" Mike asked and he nodded in response. "Did you grab his listening device and the goggles too?"

"The goggles yes but the listening device was destroyed when I shot him." He answered but he wasn't sure where Mike was going with this.

"Good I want you to hang on to those, cause I think your right there's no way that man was working alone and whoever he works for will be looking for Officer Hopps and whoever helped her. And if they find you, your going to need them." Mike said starting to pace the length of the room. While Susan came back with a rolling chair and bandages then started wrapping up his arm.

"So what are we going to do?" Judy asked looking back and forth between him and Mike.

"We hide you." He said having already having a partially formed plan in mind. "We make sure that me, Susan, Mike, and my mom are the only one's in town that even know you exist. And we'll have to keep a low profile act as if every thing's normal while keeping an ear out for anything suspicious."

"Sounds good but where are we going to keep her?" Mike asked still pacing.

"I don't know." He admitted. "I haven't figured that part out yet."

"She could stay at your house." Susan suggested.

"Wow! No way Doc. that's not happening." He quickly trying to shut that line of thought down as quickly as possible. "If this goes bad -and there's a good chance it will- my family will be in danger just for being related to me. But if this goes bad and she's at my house my family is as good as dead."

"Now hold on a minute." Mike said as he stopped pacing. "That idea has some merit to it."

"Wait what!?" He couldn't believe that this whole situation was still getting away from him again. He thought the worst had happened when Judy had spilled the beans about him being shot but it was just getting worse.

"Think about it, it's the best and most logical choice." Mike said. "If we hide her in one of the abandoned buildings here in town or some where out in the woods the four of us would have to make regular trips to make sure she's okay and has everything she needs. And if we did that we might as well be waving around red flags if someone comes to town looking for you two. But if she's at your house she'll rarely ever be a alone so we won't have to worry about accidentally giving her away. Plus you house is a quarter mile out of town as far as you can get from the main road, and your house is hard to find unless you already know where it is. Plus if they find it all they'll see is you and your family going about business as usual."

"Maybe but while me, my mom, and Chris will keep quiet about her the younger three will not. They're going to talk about her to everyone like she's a super hero." He said hoping this was enough to turn things in his favor as it was the only flaw in that plan that he could think of at the moment. "Anyone else would just see it as them having a wild imagination but anyone looking for us would know what it means and they wouldn't just ask nicely or show up pretending to be salesmen. I have little doubt that they'd come heavily armed."

Mike smiled in a way that made him feel like he just lost this argument before it even began. "We have to assume that the man who attacked you gave at least one report so his people will be looking a rabbit and a teenager. So I highly doubt that they would go around spying on elementary schoolers. From what you've told me I don't think she's first one who got pulled through that portal or whatever it was. But whoever these people are they've kept it all a secret so I'd be willing to bet that they wouldn't want to draw attention to all of this. And even if they find out that she's with you and your family as long as we don't go around spreading the word about her and keep her out of their reach there's a chance that they won't try anything. And even if they attacked you we'd hear the gun shots here in town and since you have a small collection of guns at home -and now you have that man's assault rifle- you'd be able to hold them off just long enough for me, the other Sheriffs deputy's, and at least a dozen others here in town to get there and help. And it would be all too easy to protect your family here in town if it does go bad."

He opened his mouth to argue but he couldn't think of away that he could. The idea seemed sound and he had no way to argue against it, but he couldn't shake the gut feeling that something bad was going to happen. "Alright you've made your point she can stay at my house. If that's okay with you." He asked turning to Judy.

"I don't want to be a bother or anything." Judy said quickly and while she sounded sincere there was the tiniest edge to her voice. And he couldn't blame her he, Mike, and Susan had blocked her out of nearly the whole conversation without meaning too.

He waved her statement away. "Don't worry Fluff like I said my younger siblings will see you as a hero and my mother would be all too happy to have you with us." Feeling he had to say something before it came back to bit him later he added. "And I'm sorry Fluff for not including you in our little conversation it's just you know very little about the town and the area around it. But we..." He gestured to himself, Mike, and Susan. "...know both the town and the area around it like the back of our hands so it made more sense for us to come up with the plan." He said apologetically.

Judy look surprised at first then she then she gave a small sad smile. "I know." She said then she huffed saying. "It's just I'm not use to being completely useless."

"Your not useless officer." Susan said soothingly. "Your just in a new place and haven't learned the lay of the land yet."

"She's right Fluff your far from useless if anyone else had been pulled through I'd still be trapped in the Knoll or worse." He said lightly patting her on the back honestly believing it. Then he automatically raised his arms as Susan started wrapping an ace bandage around his torso. While he couldn't stop the inward groan that he looked like a half wrapped mummy, but the light pressure from the ace bandage helped relieve some of the pain from his bruises.

When Susan finished she leaned back in her rolling chair and puling out a prescription pad from a pocket in her lab coat saying. "Well that's all I can do unless you'll let me do X-rays. But this..." She ripped off the top sheet handing it to him. "...is a prescription for painkillers. And before you say anything I know you won't use it but and I can't do anything about that. But at least this way I can say I gave you the option."

"You know me too well Doc." He said with a smile. Remembering all to well the number of arguments they had, had over him actually using the prescriptions prescribed to him as he had made a habit of hiding or throwing away the prescriptions before his mom could fill them simply because of how expensive they were. He only ever used the antibiotics if he had an infection or was really sick, and had never used the painkillers instead he used Ibuprofen and Tylenol which was so much cheaper. "I think we went over everything that we needed to. Unless one of you three can think of something we missed."

Mike, Susan, and Judy exchanged looks and all seemed thoughtful. Then all three shook there heads. "Then I should get me and Judy home. I need to unpack everything and Franky will want his ATV back. Besides I want to try and relax a bit before my mom gets off work." He said standing up grabbing his jacket.

As Judy stood up on the bed and walked over so he could help her into his jacket Susan spoke up. "I can't believe your hiding her in your jacket."

He exchanged a look with Judy and couldn't resist smiling as he looked back at Susan. "Neither could she when I first suggested it." He said and saw out of the corner his eye Judy roll her eyes as Susan just shook her head.

Once Judy was hanging on to his front again he zipped up his jacket and wrapped his scarf around his neck hiding the top of Judy's head. He and Judy said goodbye to Mike to Susan (Judy's voice slightly muffled) then they left. Once they were back at the ATV he put his scarf away and repositioned Judy so that she was once again curled against his chest then headed for home.

Judy's POV

The rest of the ride went in silence. When they stopped Anthony got off the ATV and let her out of his jacket saying she would't have to hide here. She looked around, if she was right it looked like they were on a a three acre plot of land that had been completely cleared of any trees or brush and completely covered in snow. Anthony had parked them outside of a shed and was unloading some of the gear into it and kitty corner to them by about thirty feet was a rectangular building with a sloped roof. From the angle she was looking at it she saw a large widow in the shorter part of the building. Then along the longer portion of the building was another large window, followed by a door, and then three smaller windows equally spaced out. But what really got her attention was that it looked like the house was made of concrete and the top just below the slanted roof was lined with what she assumed were lights. Minus the windows it looked like something you'd see at a prison.

"That's your house?" She asked as Anthony headed for the shed.

He looked at the building smirked then looked back a her. "I know it doesn't look real inviting from the outside. But the guy we bought it from was one of those people who believes that the government is brain washing people through their cellphones and that aliens are planning to invade and enslave everyone. He built the house himself admittedly he did a good job it fits all building codes to a 'T'. But he built it like he expected to be attacked the outside is five inches of solid concrete reinforced with rebar, all those squares lining the top of the house are high powered flood lights, but the inside is like any normal house even the basement feels pretty homey."

She nodded and looked back at the house shivering slightly, she got the feeling his idea of homey was very different then her's. Then she followed Anthony into the shed as she did she saw him warming his hands in front of space heater which was already glowing bright orange and humming. After a few seconds Anthony put the space heater on the ground by her which she was extremely thankful for as she warmed up she looked around. Far above her head were wooden shelves with a number a boxes some of them with labels like 'Christmas', 'Thanks giving', and '4th of July'. The left wall starting at the door frame going to the back wall was a wooden counter that was level with Anthony's middle with a dozen small and medium size plastic bins placed against the wall along the counter and a chair pushed under it. In the back right corner there was a large metal cabinet with one large door and was tall enough that it nearly touched the selves above, then right in front of her was an large red toolbox with a number of drawers. The length of the wall that wasn't taken up with the cabinet or the toolbox was a second wooden counter with several paw-cranked contraptions and metal rectangles with handles. Anthony made multiple trips in and out of the shed bringing in the tent and several other bags placing them either under the counters or up on the shelves. He had quickly waved down her offers to help saying she didn't know how he had things organized and that she wouldn't be able to reach the shelves. (which admittedly was at least two feet above Anthony's head.)

"What is all of this for?" She asked gesturing to the tools and contraptions on the counters, as he brought in two large knapsacks setting them down on the counter next to the metal cabinet.

He looked at her then at the counter before he answered. "When this place doubles as my little workshop."

"Really?" She asked but it made sense her father had a similar set up in a section of their barn back home. She assumed the plastic bins on the larger counter held more tools, screws, nails, nuts, and bolts. But she couldn't figure out what the strange contraptions on the smaller counter were for.

"Yeah I make dream catchers, recorders, and other knick knacks and decorative items carved from wood and bone that I sell online to help pay for things around the house." He said then he reached into one of the bins on the large counter and handed her a small wooden recorder which was only slightly too big for her. It's mouth piece was carved into the shape of an owl and he pattern carved into the rest reminded her of a tree trunk.

But one word that kept echoing in her mind as she marveled at the skill the recorder had been carved. "Bone?" She asked feeling slightly sick as she imagined Anthony carving patters into bloody bones from the mammals he killed.

"Yes bone." He said hesitantly. "I'm not going to lie I do use some bones from my kills after I've cleaned them and dried them. But mostly I use deer antlers." He said reaching into a large plastic bin under the counter and pulled out a bone white deer antler. Anthony handed it to her as she put the recorder on the floor, the antler was completely smooth except for were Anthony had carved into it. The pattern he had carved made the antler look like it was covered in leafy vines with blossoms appearing every so often along the vines. The pattern was so intricate she was having a hard time following it, she actually felt her mouth hanging open slightly despite the small pang of pain for the deer that had died for Anthony to get this antler. "How did you do this?" She asked slightly in awe despite herself as she handed the antler back to him.

He put the antler back into the bin and when she tried to hand the recorder back to him too, he simply said. "No, no you can keep that. As for how I do it, I get some of the antlers from the deer I hunt but most of them I get at the beginning of winter. Cause as the herds of deer go where ever they go for winter the bucks shed their antlers so they can grow bigger and better ones for the next year. So during that time of year I use the ATV and ride around grabbing all the shed antlers I can find." Hearing him say this made her feel so much better and loosened the tight not that had formed in her stomach. She stepped back as he walked over to the red toolbox opening one of the drawers. "And I carve the patterns using the tools I got from the trash when the dentist office in town closed a couple years ago." And as he turned back to her she saw that he was holding what indeed looked like a dentist drill. "I even got one of the air compressors they threw out. I got a number of jokes from the pricks at school for digging this stuff out of the trash when the dentist office closed down but I get the last laugh since I'm still earning money from my little side business here." He said happily putting the tool back and closing the drawer, then turned back to her placing one of his hands on one of the strange contraptions on the smaller counter. "And I use these to make my own bullets."

"You make your own bullets?" She asked shocked that a teenager was able to make his own bullets (then again after seeing how he carved both the recorder and the deer antler she wasn't too surprised) at the same time a part of her was wondering if it was even legal for him to do so.

"Yeah this is a homemade crucible and I use it..." And as Anthony said this he lifted the top off what she had thought was a solid cylinder of concrete. But as he laid it on it's side saw that it was mostly hollow and had two hoses entering the top of it both ending in a blackened metal nozzles. "...to melt the metal I need to make the shell casings and the copper jackets for the slugs." He said placing the 'crucible' up right again putting the top back in place.

Her eyes followed the two hoses one lead to what looked like a large pro-pain tank and the other to a red object that looked kind of like a paw-held fur-dryer. "What's that?" She asked pointing at the red object.

He chuckled when he saw what she was pointing at. "That's a hair dryer it's typically used by people to dry their hair, usually by girls since girls typically let their hair grow longer. But in this case it provides a constant stream of air which makes the pro-pain burn hotter so I can melt the metal faster and use less gas. And these..." He said gesturing to the other contraptions. "...each has a specific part in helping me make bullets from injecting the lead core into the copper jacket making a slug too fitting the slug into a shell casing. And before you say anything I can see that 'cop' look from a mile away. As far as I know, me making my own bullets is legal as long as I don't sell them to anyone and I make them in small batches. If I tried selling them to people or started making massive amounts of them then that would be a federal crime and friend or no friend Mike would arrest me in a heart beat."

With that Anthony turned his attention back to the knapsacks flipping the tops off both of them he turned a dial on the side of the metal cabinet before opening it's door. Once that was done he pulled out what looked like a roll of fur she couldn't understand why he would have a roll of artificial fur but as he unrolled it she got the feeling that the grey fur some how seemed familiar. When he turned it around however a wave of horror and anger hit her quickly followed by intense nausea that made her run to a metal bucket full of wood shavings and start throwing up violently. Anthony was there in an instant he placed his hand on her back asking if she was okay but she quickly smacked his hand away she didn't want him touching her. When he had flipped the fur around she saw that the back was flesh colored and there were several spots of blood as well. That's when she realized the fur wasn't wasn't fake and the reason why it looked familiar was because it's rabbit fur.

When her stomach was completely empty her vomiting stopped. Her nose burned from the stomach acid and her whole body felt weak and shaky. But she still managed to whisper. "You skinned them."

"What?" Anthony asked sounding confused.

She didn't know if it was the lack of a good answer or just the fact it had been done. But she quickly forgot about the weakness that had spread through her body from her vomiting as she rounded on Anthony screaming at him. "YOU SKINNED THEM! WHY!?" The same deep seething fury that had filled her when he first admitted to hunting and killing rabbit was back in full force. And this time he didn't stay calm he recoiled away from her like she was a venomous snake.

"I-I had too just like you have too pluck a chicken or scale a fish." He said so quickly that he stuttered slightly though he seemed to be getting over his shock.

She felt her blood boil and her fur bristle as he spouted that pathetic excuse to avoid giving her a straight answer as she had no doubt that he knew exactly what she meant by the question. Anthony hadn't just cleaned his kills of anything inedible she had already figured he would have to do that. But this was different he had taken the time to skin them so their pelts remained intact with the obvious intent of keep them. "Why?" She growled through clenched teeth taking a half a step forward causing him to cringe away slightly looking a bit more fearful. And while a part of her wondered why he was scared of her most of her took a savage pleasure from it.

"I use the pelts and hides from my kills to make different things that I can sell." He answered cautiously.

She didn't think it was possible but her anger had more then doubled. "What in the fluffing carrot hell is wrong with you? Isn't it bad enough that you're taking the lives of innocent mammals? Obviously not since your insulting them by using them to make _'knick knacks'_." She spat the last two words her voice filling with more and more disgust as she talked. "Hunting to feed your family my tail. Your only killing them because it's a _convenient_ way for you to save a little money and to make a little on the side aren't you? AREN'T YOU!?"

She saw anger flash in his eyes but when he spoke he did so calmly. "No Judy I really am hunting to feed my family. The average size for a human family at any given time is three but my family is a family of six twice the size of the average so it takes a lot to feed us all, more then we can afford without me hunting. As for the pelts and hides it's the same concept as when feathers are used for pillows or when reptile skin is used to make hand bags and wallets. The only other option I have is to leave them to rot. I am very aware that when I hunt I'm taking a life, maybe not an intelligent life but a life none the less. And I personally believe that the best way I can honor that life and too make sure that life didn't end for nothing is by doing the best I can to use all that I can. Because if I can use it and all I do is throw it away it's the same as saying that that animals life was worth nothing to me. They may not be intelligent like you and me, they may not be people like you and me but their lives still count for something. I hate and I mean hate people who hunt for sport or pleasure in my opinion people who go out and kill animals for no other reason then because 'it's fun' should be at the very least be arrested."

She was angry but not nearly as angry as she wanted to be. He was killing rabbits and other mammals for food she wanted to hate him for it but the way he explained it, the sincerity in his voice was making that extremely difficult. It made her sick hearing that some humans hunted only because it was fun but it made her feel better that Anthony wasn't like that, and at the same time a part of her was happy that by the tone of his voice he hated those mammals as much as she did. And it wasn't just what he said or the sound of his voice that convinced her that he was telling the truth but she had also been paying close attention to his heart beat expecting it to be uneven or would speed up which would prove that he was lying. But it had remained steady and constant which proved he was telling the truth and truly believed what he was saying.

"Look Judy." He said softly drawing her attention back to him. "I know that something like this is unthinkable where you come from but here it's just how life is. And if it makes you feel better not many humans actually hunt anymore and as for the ones that do most wouldn't look twice at a rabbit."

"And why's that?" She asked bitterly. But she already knew the answer it was because they are small. These human hunters wouldn't bother with bunny's like herself since they were nothing more then harmless little balls of fluff. She didn't know whether to feel relieved or insulted. And judging by how Anthony was no longer looking her in the eye and was rubbing the back of his neck looking nervous she had assumed right.

"Well...your probably going to hit me for saying this but most hunters wouldn't bother with rabbits because of how small they are." He said calmly but as if he was trying to say it as gently as possible but he managed in confirming that here like everywhere else some mammals were only going to see her as a cute little dumb bunny. "As I'm sure you noticed yesterday you are more then two or three times bigger then the primitive rabbits here in this world. But for hunters like me who hunt for food one of the rabbits from this world might make a single meal for one or two people. But if your trying to feed a number of people like I am you would need a pretty large number of rabbits to do it. So the question I or any hunter like me needs to ask is why end so many lives when I could kill just one deer and get far more meat then I would from three dozen rabbits. Does that make sense?"

She didn't say anything instead she just nodded. Again as far as she could tell he was telling the truth and if she was completely honest the fact that he had thought it all through and at least seemed to be trying to take a path with the least amount of lives lost made her feel better. Then she remembered what Anthony said when he first told her about hunting rabbits '-when I hunt I have a conscious-' she had heard him say that but now she was starting to see what he had meant by that. It didn't excuse him not for a second she hated what he was doing and always will but at least it seemed like he was trying to do it in the best way he could. "Okay then why were you hunting rabbits in the first place?"

He relaxed again and gave a halfhearted chuckle. "A three reasons one: nearly all of the larger prey mammals have moved on for the winter and won't start coming back for another month at least. Two: there's are law's that protected protect the animals we hunt so that...so that...ummm...uhhh." She watched as he faltered mid sentence, he tried to speak several more times but failed after a few minutes then he groaned putting his face in his hands before looking back at her saying. "Okay there's no way to say this in a good way so I'm just going to say it. Those hunting laws state that we can only hunt certain animals during certain times of the year and even then we're only allowed to kill so many so even if the larger prey animal were still around I wouldn't be able to hunt them anyways. Those laws are in place to make sure that we don't hunt those animals faster then they can reproduce otherwise they'd be wiped out completely. For some animals like rabbits and boar those laws don't apply they can be hunted year round and the number killed is up to the hunter. and it's like that simply because both rabbits and boar multiply so quickly."

_'This is getting ridiculous!'_ She thought with a mixture of anger and exasperation. _'Every time I start thinking that humans in general or at least that this human isn't so bad, I get another reason that makes me want to slap him.'_

**_ 'Slap him? Throttle or beat him sense less more like it.'_** A second voice growled.

Despite this she did her best to keep calm giving him the chance to explain she'd already blown up on him several times and didn't feel like doing it again.

But judging by the look on his face he didn't have a positive spin for this one. "Judy I know how bad that must sound to you and I've got nothing to make it sound any better. All I can say is that I'm sorry but that's just how things are here. And unless all of the animals of this world evolve to be like you and other Zootopians it's not going to change."

She didn't know what to say. She wanted to yell at him for being specist but he seemed to understand just how offensive that was too her and she didn't get the feeling that he was trying to offend and that he had at least tried think of a better way to put it. So instead she asked. "And three?"

He hesitated for a moment making her dread what his answer would be. Then he said. "And three: my pet fox Trixy is pregnant."

_'Wait what?'_ Was the first thought in her head but then two words kept playing over and over in her head 'pet fox'. Naturally she knew what a pet was she had, had a pet tortoise as a kit named Arnold in fact she had him all the way up until just before she went to the ZPD Academy when she had given Arnold to one of her younger brothers since she wouldn't be able to take care of him anymore. And a number of her siblings had pet birds, reptiles, fish, and she was pretty sure that at least one of her brothers had a pet toad. But a fox being someones pet was unthinkable, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing especially if having a pet here in this world was the same as having a pet in her world. But a pet fox...she just couldn't wrap her head around it.

Anthony seemed to panic slightly obviously afraid she would start yelling again and said quickly. "Now Judy it's not as bad as it sounds. They're not slaves or anything most humans treat their pets with the same love and care as they would their own children. Hell some people treat their pets better then they treat their own children. I mean-"

"I know. It's the same in my world." She said causing Anthony to stop mid sentence and blink like he had just been blinded by a camera flash.

"Wait, it is?" He asked sounding very confused.

"Uh huh." She said nodding then went on explaining. "I had a pet tortoise named Arnold and a number of mammals have all kinds of pets reptiles, birds, fish, and a few other things. But a pet fox..." She trailed off the words 'pet' and 'fox' just didn't fit together in her head but as far as her mind was concerned those two words just didn't belong together.

He gave a half hearted smirked saying. "Well since your best friend is a fox I can understand it's weird to you. But foxes like all other animals here are primitive so they are on the list for potential pets although it is pretty rare for someone to have a fox for a pet let alone two."

"You have two pet foxes?" She asked astounded and when he nodded she thought. _'Well that defiantly explains how his other fox -Trixy?- got pregnant.'_ Before asking. "So what's your other fox's name?"

"His name is Riot." He said then he chuckled. "And trust me he earned his name." She amused herself for a moment or two on how a fox could earn the name 'Riot'. but her musings didn't last long a silence had settled between them it seemed like they both were waiting for the other to speak. She had opened her mouth but she wasn't able to say anything. A part of her felt like he was lucky that all she had done was yell at him. At the same time a part of her felt sorry for laying into Anthony like she had. She had thought that while she didn't like the fact that he was hunting she had thought that she had come at least to terms with it and accepted that he was a good mammal. But her out burst just now had proved her wrong. She honestly didn't know if she wanted to apologize for blowing up on him but at the same time she wanted to say that she wasn't sorry at all.

In the end He was the first to speak. "Look Fluff I need to finish putting away those pelts then we can head inside and I can introduce you to my younger siblings, okay?"

She still hadn't figured out what to say so she just nodded her head. Then she walked back over to the space heater and positioned herself so her back was facing Anthony and she waited. As she did she heard strange womping sounds almost like a rubber door mat being shaken out. The sound was enough to make her shudder and and wrap her arms around herself. Thankfully it wasn't long before she heard the the metal door close and Anthony walked past her gesturing for her to follow him.

As they left the shed Anthony closed and locked the door behind them and started walking towards the house with her following close behind. But when they were a little ways past the ATV he stopped suddenly almost causing her to walk right into him. She look up at him and saw that he was looking down at her looking both thoughtful and worried. Before she could ask what was wrong he spun around and dropped back down to her level.

"I just thought of something." He said calmly but seriously. "I don't think it will be much of a problem. But we have to remember that while both of my foxes where raised by me and my family they are still foxes which makes them your natural predators. Like I said I don't think it will be much of a problem but I don't know how they'll react to you since your a bunny. So I think it must be better to introduce you to them one at a time and I'm positive that if something does happen I'll be able to control the situation. But I have to ask if for some reason I can't control the situation do you think you can handle it?"

Now she understood why he was worried he was scared that his 'pet' foxes would see her as their prey and attack her. And if they were like the rabbit she saw yesterday then Anthony's fear was warranted as foxes they were her natural predators and could all to easily kill her if they got a hold of her. But if that was true it also meant that she was more intelligent then they were and she had her ZPD training so if it can down to it she was confident that she'd be able to hold her own. "I'll be okay."

"Are you sure?" He asked sounding uncertain.

She nodded giving him a small smile she honestly wasn't too worried as neither Nick or any other officer in the ZPD had ever managed to best her in a sparring match. Anthony still looked uncertain but he nodded then he stood up and walked a few feet from her and gave a high pitch three note whistle he repeated the same three note whistle. She cocked her head _'Why is he whistling'_ she thought then her ear twitched as she heard what sounded like a small door open and close she turned and saw a red streak racing towards them.

She watched as Anthony knelt back down with a bright smile on his face saying. "Come here Riot! Come here boy!" As he did Judy felt her paw instinctively rest on her tranquilizer pistol. As the blur got closer she got a clear look at the fox. He was smaller then Nick and other foxes she had met but not by much. The fox's fur was three toned most of it was a bright red, but along his back was a deeper darker red, he also had two white spots one on his throat and the other right between his eyes. The fox was running on all fours and like the rabbit he was completely naked. (While the fox being naked bothered her a little bit it wasn't to big of an issue since she had been secretly attending Nangi's yoga classes at The Mystic Spring Oasis for the last six months)

She tensed up as she watched the fox jumped up on Anthony but she relaxed as the fox gave a couple of joyful yips and started licking Anthony's face with his tail wagging like crazy. Anthony in return was scratching the fox behind his ears and along his neck. She couldn't help but smile as the as the fox jumped down spun in a circle giving a few more joyful barks and yips before jumping back up too continue licking Anthony's face. She wished Nick was here if he was she would have used the other foxes antics against him and would have never have let him live it down.

It was weird it was obvious that the fox wasn't on their level of intelligence but it was obvious to her he had a personality similar to that of a young child. And it also seemed that while it wasn't by much it was also obvious that this fox was more intelligent then the rabbit she saw yesterday. After a few minutes Anthony managed to calm the fox down some but once he did the fox immediately started sniffing his shoulder and arm. Anthony simply said playfully. "That's right boy I went and got my self hurt again no surprises there huh?" Then the fox stuck it's muzzle into the top of Anthony's jacket sniffing madly. The canine obviously caught her sent pretty quickly and abruptly turned his head towards her. Before she or Anthony could react the fox closed the distance between them -causing her to tense again- and began circling her sniffing her as he did. Then the fox stopped in front of her but kept sniffing her. She looked at Anthony silently asking for help.

Anthony just shrugged saying. "What do you expect your new, canines sniff things that are new. Besides I'm his human and you just spent most of the last two days in my jacket so our scents are all over each other he's curious. I don't think that we'll have any problems with him but we should make sure that he knows your friendly just in case."

"And how do you think we should do that?" She asked blushing as the fox pressed it's nose against her chest.

"Simple. Scratch him behind his ears and pet him a bit. He might not trust you right away but it'll at least let him know your friendly." Anthony said simply like it was perfectly normal.

"You've got to be kidding me!" She said mortified as she felt her flush deepen. She couldn't, wouldn't just pet another mammal.

Anthony looked confused. "No? It's not that big of a deal, by doing that it shows him that your a friend. Why is something wrong?"

"I can't just go around petting other mammals it's...it's indecent...it's _perverse_." She had a hard time saying this but was unable to think of another way of saying it as she took a step back and gentle pushed against the foxes muzzle in an attempt to stop the fox's sniffing.

Anthony still looked confused for a moment then he eyes widened in understanding. "Oh...oh. Your over thinking it Fluff, your over thinking it by a lot. Petting might have that meaning for Zootopians -and some humans for that matter- but that's not the case here not even close. He's like my furry young brother. And as far as I know all humans who have pet canines and felines petting is equivalent to what hugs are for us, you petting him would be no different then if you hugged one of your younger siblings. If that makes any sense."

In a extremely weird kind of way it kind of made some sense and as much as it unnerved her she slowly reached out and hesitantly started scratching the fox behind one of his ears. She had expected the fox to flinch away or at least stiffen at her touch. But she was surprised as the fox leaned his head into her paw, with a strangely happy look on his face, and his tail wagging faster. She quickly drew her paw back the whole thing just felt way too awkward.

Then the fox's head shot forward and then she saw a few flashes of pink and at the same time Anthony wrapped his arm around the fox pulling the fox back saying. "Riot stop that!" She felt herself flush in horror as she realized that the fox had just licked her.

"Sorry Fluff I didn't think that he'd lick you otherwise I would have warned you." Anthony apologized still holding the fox. "And Fluff I can tell your upset so please calm down. It just his way of saying he likes you and trust you. Believe me if that wasn't true he wouldn't have licked you, he would have been barking and baring his teeth, growling at the very least. But now we know we'll won't have any problems with him. Then again I wasn't too worried about him to begin with it's Trixy I'm worried about."

"Why do you say that?" She grumbled smoothing out the damp fur on her cheek wondering what the fox would do next as she glared at him and he still had that stupid all too happy look on his face with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth as he panted.

"Well between the two she's more aggressive." Anthony said nervously. "And she can be pretty territorial add on the fact that she's pregnant it might not go so smooth with her."

She was still sure that she'd be able too handle herself but she still had to ask. "So you think she'll attack me?"

Anthony sighed then said. "I don't know Fluff I'm hoping that at the very worst all she'll do is bark and growl but there is still that chance that she will attack. I'll be able to control her if that does happen but given her current condition I hope it doesn't come to that." There was a moment of silence as she watch Anthony unconsciously scratch the sides of Riots neck. Then he sighed again. "Judy I have a favor to ask you." He said and continued on not waiting for her answer. "I know that you don't really trust me and that a part of you hates me. And I understand why but I'm asking you please whatever you think of me don't take it out on my sibling. I'm begging please don't."

"Don't worry I won't take it out on them. After all your the one that did it not them." She said quickly.

Anthony looked genuinely relieved and said. "Thank you. Come on let's get inside where it's warm."

With that Anthony stood up and started back towards the house. She once again started to follow but this time she was careful not to follow to closely as Riot staid right on Anthony's heels and kept looking back at her. When Anthony opened the front door Riot bolt inside barking happily but Anthony had paused in the doorway looking at her and gestured for her to come inside then he walked in himself and she hear several high pitched and excited voice yell "Aj! Aj's home!" from inside the house. She took a deep breath and followed.

As she walked through the door she closed it behind her looking around. She was in a large room and from what she could see the room was a combination of kitchen, dinning room, and living room. Opposite of her along a portion of the opposite wall and window was the kitchen area she could see cabinets and the tops of different appliances. The area was separated from the rest of the room by two large counters. The portion of the opposite wall not taken up by the kitchen was claimed by a large dinner table with wooden eight chairs. To her left was what she assumed was a closet door in the wall next to her the wall held a number of picture of Anthony and who she assumed was his family -She even recognized both Mike and Susan Sullivan in several of the pictures- farther along the wall near the kitchen the wall opened up into what she assumed was a hallway. To her right and right below the window was a large black couch, in the corner next to it was a matching recliner, right in front of the couch was a coffee table. And in front of that pressed against one of the counters was an entertainment center with a TV it's shelves held a DVD player and a large number of movies. It was positioned so that if you were at the dinner table or in the kitchen you would only see the back of the TV. All of this filled the room but it didn't feel cramped that coupled with the walls, floor, and ceiling all seemed made from the same light brown wood and the light from several lamps and the light streaming in from the three large windows gave the whole room a warm and cozy feeling too it.

Once she had taken in the room around her she started taking in the mammals in it. In front of her by the coffee table Anthony had knelt down and was surrounded by four other humans all of various height but all of them shorter then Anthony and younger then him. Three of them two boys and a girl were crowded in front of him all talking at the same time while a third and and taller boy -though still much shorter then Anthony- stood close by smiling obviously waiting his turn to greet Anthony While Riot was running around them barking happily enjoying the excitement pouring from the younger three humans. As she watch she realized that there was no denying that the five of them were related their facial features where all similar and their hair was the same light color with dark streaks. The only thing that set Anthony apart from his siblings other then his height was that while he had ice blue colored eyes his siblings all had light green eyes.

Anthony stood up and hugged the taller of his younger siblings when they separated Anthony's brother opened his mouth to say something then his light green eyes met her amethyst and the boy froze eyes wide mouth open. Anthony looked over his shoulder and looked at her and gave her a broad toothy smile before saying. "Alright everyone we have a guest so could all of you line up so I can introduce you to her."

At his words Anthony's younger three siblings turned and looked right at her. The three of them seemed curious while the oldest of the four still seemed shocked. But all four of them lined up in front of her the smallest was to her right and the tallest to her left while Anthony stood behind them.

Anthony placed a hand on the shoulder of the tallest of his four siblings. "Well Fluff this is the oldest of my younger siblings. His name is Chris and he'll be twelve in April." Anthony moved down the line placing a hand on each of his siblings in turn as he introduced them. "This is my little sister Kelly she's nine. This squirt is Austin he's seven. And this little guy is Tomas he's five" Then Anthony gestured to her saying. "Everyone this is Officer Judy Hopps."

Chris's reaction was what she expected he continued to look at her with a mixer of shock and disbelief. But the other three's was a surprise their eyes widened but not from shock all three of them seemed suddenly bursting with excitement.

In fact little Tomas (who was just as tall as she was) turned and looked up at Anthony. "Is she the really real Judy? Is she really, really real?" He asked practically hopping with excitement. The way Tomas said this was so adorable she couldn't stop a small _'Aww'_ from escaping.

Anthony smiled down at Tomas and answered. "Well I don't know. Why don't you ask her yourself."

Tomas instantly turned right back to her. "Are you really real?"

It was official while she didn't know where she stood with Anthony she absolutely loved little Tomas. She smiled brightly at him sowing her big front teeth and said sweetly. "Yes I am."

The reaction to her words was instant. Chris looked even more shocked. While both Austin and Kelly's eyes light up and they both started talking at the same time asking different questions so fast that she couldn't keep up. And Tomas gave an excited little squeal rushing forward and hugging her. She was shocked for a moment by the sudden movement but then she happily returned the hug. She looked up at Anthony and saw that he was Beaming down at them with his arms crossed in front of himself, she could actually see his chest swelling with happiness as he watched

Anthony let the moment continue for a little bit longer then stopped the torrent of questions from Kelly and Austin. "Alright that's enough you two your hurting every body's ears." He said teasingly, Kelly looked a bit sheepish but Austin looked quiet unabashed. Then Anthony reached down and gently pulled Tomas away from her saying. "Come on bud give Judy some space and let her breath she doesn't need you smothering her before she has a chance to relax." Tomas looked so crestfallen that she almost pulled him back for another hug but instead Anthony said. "How about this, Judy hasn't seen the Zootopia movie yet. So you three go sit down and Chris can put it in and we can all watch it together. How's that sound?"

Tomas's face light right back up saying. "Yay!" then he, Kelly, and Austin ran off taking seats on the floor between the coffee table and couch. It took Chris another second or two too shake off his shock then he walked over to the entertainment center looking through the movies.

Anthony chuckled then crouched down as he watched his younger siblings and whispered. "You do realize Fluff that just meeting you made the year for all of them. Even Chris you might not have noticed Fluff but his reaction wasn't like Mike's or Susan's it was the whole _'I'm in the same room as somebody famous'_ look."

She gave her own chuckle she had noticed it was a reaction that she was use too she had gotten the same reaction quiet a few times since she solved the night howler case ten months ago. Then she looked over at Anthony and asked. "So there's a 'Zootopia movie'?"

Anthony looked at her and his smile suddenly became mischievous as he called out. "Hey Chris toss me the case will you." Chris looked over his shoulder at them then through a DVD case through the air like a Frisbee and Anthony cot it effortlessly. Then Anthony said offering out the movie case to her. "Remember when you asked how I knew so much about you and I told you it would be easier to show you then to tell you? This is what I was talking about."

She took the case and looked at it and was completely shocked at what she saw. On the front of the case was a picture of herself and Nick standing back to back with their arms crossed and a snap shot off Zootopia and a crosswalk in the back ground. It was an animated picture true but there was no doubt it was her and Nick. She looked up at Anthony a saw that his mischievous smile was bigger then ever.

"Interesting isn't it?" Anthony asked slyly. "Don't ask anything you'll just have to watch it with the rest of us. I'm really looking forward to seeing just how much of the movie is true." Then his face became serious. "But we should deal with Trixy first. Hey Chris where's Trixy?"

Chris had gone over and sat down in the recliner with the DVD remote. "What? Oh, oh yeah I was about to tell you she had her kits early this morning."

"What?" Anthony asked loudly sounding worried.

"Yeah. But mom says she's okay she just doesn't want to leave your room." Chris said as he watched the previews on the TV.

Anthony shot her a concerned look then he stood up and walked as fast as he knee brace and limp would let him towards the hallway.

She hesitated for a moment then did a little jog to catch up with him. She followed Anthony through the first door on the right. As he flipped the light switch she looked around and thought it wasn't too different from your typical teenage boy's room except that it was clean. Too her left was his bed it had a of dark blue blanket, by the foot of the bed was a desk with a desktop computer and a lamp, in the far wall was a single small window, most of the floor in the middle of the room was taken up by large dark blue rug, up against the right wall was a hamper and two dressers with various items on top of then, and the walls were covered with posters. A couple were of what looked like a paw-ball team, a few showed hunting rifles like his, but most of them had a gold star or humans wearing some kind of digital uniform and what she thought looked like riot gear with captions saying 'U.S. ARMY' and 'There's strong Then there's ARMY STRONG'. She wasn't sure what the 'Army' was but she was reminded of how the walls in her room back in Bunny burrow where covered in ZPD posters so she assumed whatever the Army was it was Anthony's dream job

Once she had taken in the room she returned her attention to Anthony and saw that he was knelt down at the gap between his bed and desk. She moved around to his right side and saw he was petting a vixen (who unlike Nick or Riot was a constant apple red color) with a pink collar laying on her side on a pile towels. And curled up against her belly was four tiny light brown newborn fox kits.

She cooed as she looked at the kits and her nose filled with the new earth sent that all newborns had. Unfortunately her 'coo' had drawn the attention of the vixen and their eyes made contact. The vixens eyes were green not emerald like Nick's or warm green like Anthony's siblings but a deep forest green. And as soon as they made eye contact the vixens ears laid back, her pupils shrank to slits, and she bared her teeth growling loudly. The look on her face was of pure fury almost savage.

When the vixen tried to rise Anthony pinned her firmly down with his hand on the side of her chest saying. "Judy back off! Go stand over by the door now!" And when the vixens kits started squeaking and whining in protest at the movement she stopped pushing against Anthony's hand and broke eye contact her face relaxing long enough to look down at them see if they were okay. Then the vixen looked back at her growling again but this time she didn't try to get up. There was no doubt in her mind not in the slightest that if Anthony and the four kits hadn't have been there the vixen would have attacked her and after seeing the look on the fox's face she was not so sure she would have come out on top.

She tried to quickly but calmly do as Anthony said and to stand over by the door but froze halfway there when she saw Riot standing in the doorway she half expected for him to attack. But as she watched Riot seemed to hear his mates growls and he lowered himself in a submissive manner, his ears down, and his tail between his legs as he backed out of the door seeming to be as eager as she was to get out of the room. Seeing Riots reaction to his mate was the last straw for her she sprinted from the room and stood with her back to the wall her heart hammering just to the left of the door with Riot lying submissively by her feet.

She could still hear the vixens growls from inside of the room, along with the squeaks and whimpers of the fox kit, and Anthony talking to the vixen in a soothing voice trying to calm her down. After about five minutes her heartrate had returned to normal but she was still on edge and so was Riot. Anthony walked out closing the door behind him.

He looked extremely nervous as he look down at her saying. "Well...uh I think most of that was because a stranger entered her space so soon after giving birth. So I think if we wait a week or two too introduce you to her we won't have the issue that we just did." She thought Anthony was crazy that if she and that vixen were in the same room together the fox would attack her. And she was about to say so when Anthony's eyes flickered to Riot and a smile half flicked across his face. "Trixy scare you too huh boy? Yeah I don't think your her favorite person right now either." He said reaching down and scratching Riots head getting his tail to wag a little. Then he straightened up saying. "Alright let's just...let's just go and watch the movie okay Fluff."

Anthony's POV

Judy was on edge as they walked back out to the living room he could blame her he had never thought Trixy would react to Judy like that and he shuddered at the thought of what would have happened if he hadn't been there. But he forced such thought from his mind as he sat next to Judy on the couch and gave Chris the go ahead to start the movie.

Much to his relief Judy seemed to relax and seemed to sit on the edge of her seat as the movie progressed and her nervous on edge demeanor was replaced with a mixer of shock, wonder, embarrassment, and worry which he found very amusing. She had made him laugh wen she asked how humans had managed to spy on her without her noticing.

When it got to the part where she hustled Nick He started quoting the scene word for word changing his voice up and down as he did coming extremely close to matching her, Nick's, and Finnicks's voices he looked over at Judy as he did and was happy to see that she was staring at him wide eyed her mouth hanging open. "...one million, sixty four thousand I think. I mean I am just a dumb bunny. But we are good at _multiplying_..." He put extra emphases on the word 'multiplying' causing Judy to flop her head forward into her paws groaning. And when the scene was over he leaned over and whispered. "You can't get mad at me since your the one who admitted it. And there's the video proof." Which earned him another groan making him chuckle but he and the others laughed as Judy went red when it showed her reaction to the naturalist club.

At the end of the movie Judy confirmed that, that was exactly what happened a few minor details were missing but other wise the movie was right on the money. Then he had his younger sibling go play in their rooms while he and Chris unloaded the meat from the ATV. Then he returned the ATV to the Sheriff's deputy Franklin (Franky) then got a lift back home.

He spent the rest of the day relaxing and resting his injuries. When his mom got home (5'-7", looked all of her children, and had the same dirty bold hair like them. But she had green eyes like his younger four siblings. Making him the only one in the family with ice blue eyes.) she didn't notice Judy instead she rounded on him since she had heard from another nurse that he had been at the hospital earlier in the day. She only noticed Judy when he introduced Judy to her and when Judy greeted her with a warm smile telling his mom how lovely she thought the house was, his moms reaction was much like Susan's was after she woke up. That was to say his mom jumped back and acted like she was trying to climb the wall backwards. Luckily with all five of her children and Judy telling her everything was okay she got over the whole thing pretty quickly.

Then he had Chris put on another movie for the younger three while the four of them sat down at the dinner table. He and Judy fill his mom and Chris in on everything that had happened. Chris was shocked and angry but his mom panic just like he though she would. It took him quiet some time to convince her that he was fine. And when he finally had his mom told Judy that she was to stay with them as long as she wanted. Then his mom looked at him and asked. "But we'll have to get her some cloths and other thing any Ideas?"

"Yeah I was going to give some money from my rainy day found to a few of the deputy's down at the station to order a few thing for her online." He answered. As long as he spread the purchases out to several different people in the Sheriff's department there'd be no tracking it back to them.

"Are you sure?" His mom asked obviously not liking that he was going to use his saving to get what Judy needed.

"Yeah this way we can pay everything we need to without money getting tight." He saw Judy open her mouth no doubt to take his mom's side so he said. "Fluff don't your not going to win this one. Just suck it up and say 'thank you'."

"Thank you." She said sighing. "But I'll pay you back by helping out around here. Deal?"

He smiled Judy's pride like his own obviously kept her from taking charity. "I have no problem with that Fluff so deal." All in all the day hadn't gone how he wanted and he still couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen but thing's could have been so much worse and he would just have to hope he was being paranoid.


	6. Night raid

Chapter 6

Anthony's POV

It had been two weeks since he had met Judy and she had come to live with him and his family in those two weeks the snow had started to melt and small patches of green could be seen here or there give it another two weeks and it would officially be spring just in time for his birthday. But his birthday was the last thing on his mind since the last two weeks had not been fun.

Judy ended up having several more emotional break downs, she had even started to have panic attacks massive ones. They were so bad that the first time it happened he and his siblings had all freaked out and he called Susan for help so she and Mike rushed over. The second Susan laid eyes on Judy she knew what was wrong and proceeded to calm Judy down. Once Judy was calm she passed out from exhaustion and stayed out for several hours In that time Susan explained that Judy had, had a panic attack and that she suspected that the panic attack was triggered by the same pain and loss that had left Judy an emotional wreck. Susan also said that had Judy been human she would have had her sent to a specialist to relieve treatment and most likely medication. But they didn't make that kind of medication for bunny's and any human medication given to her wouldn't work or would make the problem a hundred times worse. And Susan brought up the fact that it was very possible for a bunnies from their world to die from being scared so badly that they'd have a heart attack so if Judy was like the bunny's from their world then the panic attacks could easily stress her heart to the breaking point and kill her if they continued. So Susan coached him on what to do if Judy had another panic attack, and told him that the only way to help Judy other than getting her back to her world or years of therapy was to try and cancel out her negative emotion with happy positive emotions.

At first he thought that, that would have been easy enough to do since being around his younger siblings seemed to help her mood a lot. And while that seemed to help her some the emotional breaks and panic attacks continued and were taking a massive toll on Judy she was extremely tiered, irritable, and very depressed.

And in all honesty he wasn't doing to well either. With his mom's work schedule he was the one that had to help Judy through almost all of her episodes and seeing her like that hurt like a kick to the chest each time. But as bad as that was it was nothing compared to the nightmares. The man from the field was haunting his dreams he kept seeing the man standing in the shadows of his dreams blood pouring down his face and chest from the bullet holes in his body smiling asking how it felt to be a monster just like him or the man would simply attack him and slowly tear him apart either way he'd wake up in a cold sweat each time. With him having a lack of sleep and Judy being in the condition she was in, tempers were high and resulted in a number of arguments.

Most were small arguments like when he got the new clothes for Judy and several bottles of specialized shampoo and conditioner for bunny's (that he had asked several of the Sheriff deputy's to order online for him) and had made the mistake at laughing at the fact that all of her new clothing came in a box labeled 'Baby Gap'. Judy had then bit his head off for being an 'insensitive tail-hole' as she put it. But some of the arguments had a bit more bite.

Like the arguments he and is mom had over him carrying a gun with him every where he went now. His mom knew that he had guns that wasn't the problem especially since all of his guns use to be his dad's and were currently in her name until he was old enough to legally own them himself. He had a deal with his mom that unless he was hunting, doing target practice, or cleaning them all of his guns and ammo were kept locked in a metal footlocker under his bed which was the new home for the AR-15. But ever since he got home his Glock .45 never left his hip and Judy never took off her ZPD utility bet with her 9mm Black Rabbit longer then it took her to sleep or shower, so needless to say his mom was pissed. And they had several big arguments about the guns but when Mike called the house three days ago to tell them about four strange men had come into town looking for them. Mike told them that two of the men had fake FBI badges and the other two had tried to blend in with everyone else in town but given how small the town is and 'their obvious city-slicker demeanor' as Mike put it they stuck out like a sore thumb. But the bad part was that all four of them were asking questions about a man who went missing in the area of the woods where he and Judy had been two weeks before and asking for anyone who would know what might have happened.

That piece of information had stopped all of his mom's arguments against him and Judy carrying guns. But it also had a very dramatic effect on Judy, she stopped looking and acting as depressed as before. Finding out that four people were in town looking for them seemed to have light a fire in her. Now she was all gun-ho with the idea of hunting down anyone who was connected to the man that attacked them and bringing them all to justice. It was nice to see her motivated and out of the rut that she's been stuck in especially since the panic attacks and emotional break downs seemed to stop but what she was suggesting was insane border line suicide. When he told Judy his opinion on the idea she had laid into him saying they had a responsibility to stop whoever these people are and make sure they paid for their crimes no matter how dangerous it might be. He didn't admit it but hearing her say that had reminded him greatly of his dad and a part of him agreed but there was just no way that a kid and a bunny were going to come out on top in all of this, they might win a few fights but it will end with them dead.

They had, had the same argument ten times in the last three days but Judy just wouldn't let the subject drop so by this point he was seriously considering strangling her. She had even gone so far as too squeeze every bit of information she could about the equipment and weapons the man from the field had carried, as well as the IDs the fake FBI agents carried and any possible way of tracking them from both him and Mike. But what really got under his skin was how Judy acted like he was doing nothing when for the last two weeks he's been out in his shed as much as he possibly could be. And it wasn't like he was in there wasting time he was making all the bullets he could for their pistols, his R25, and had started to try and make bullets for the AR15 he had used up nearly all of his bullet making material in fact he was sure that if he wasn't already past the legal number of bullets he could have at any one time he was a hairs breath away. He had even started getting creative looking up things like how to make smoke bombs. Cause as he found out when he was first to learning how to make bullets that you could find just about anything on the internet, even if you didn't get detailed instructions as long as you found out what you needed and the basics the rest you could learn through trial and error. But that wasn't good enough for Judy.

For this particular argument he had gone in the kitchen to get a drink when he turned around he see Judy in a pink T-shirt and blue jeans meant for a five year old standing on top the counter so that there was only an inch difference in their heights she was glaring at him with her arms crossed and her foot tapping on the counter top. He knew what she wanted so to try and avoid another argument he simply tried to walk past her ignoring that she was there. But with a surprising amount of strength Judy reached out a paw and pushed against the right side of his chest, it wasn't enough to stop him in his tracks but it was enough to make him stumble slightly. And the two seconds that it took for him to regain his balance was all Judy needed to get the ball rolling.

"We need to talk." Judy said shortly.

"I don't see what there is left to talk about Judy we both have made it very clear where we stand." He said coolly as he tried to walk past her again only to be stopped when Judy slapped his shoulder so hard that it spun him around slightly and left the spot where she had hit him throbbing. His mom was still home since she worked the night shift today so she walked over and stood off to the side of them just in case she needed to referee but otherwise made no move to intervene. At the same time Trixy stuck her head out from around the corner in the hallway growling softly. In the last two weeks he'd gotten Trixy to be in the same room as Judy without problems but Trixy growled and got defensive whenever he and Judy started yelling at each other.

"I won't let you just walk away from this." She said fiercely only a few short steps away from yelling.

"There's nothing to walk away from Judy." After having the same argument so often in the last few days and a major lack of sleep he didn't bother trying to hide the anger in his voice it was all he could do to stop himself from yelling at her. "All this is, is you having a hair brained scheme that will get us killed and you just won't let it drop when the best and only thing we can do is keep our heads down."

Judy's ears seemed to vibrate and her eyes filled with fire her voice rising. " 'keep our heads down'? Are you seriously saying that we should do nothing, just turn our backs? You said yourself the fact that, that man was waiting for me meant that he and the people he worked for have done it before. And even Mike agreed with you on that. But now your saying we're just suppose to forget about that and just pretend that they won't do it again?"

"You're right I said that it's basically a guarantee that they've attacked other Zootopians who got sucked through into this world and that they were most likely _shot on sight_. Just like they tried to do to you which means those Zootopians are dead so there's nothing that you, me, or anyone else can do for them. And I also said that given his equipment and the fact that he has four friends in town looking for us, two of which have fake _federal IDs_ and those fakes are so good Mike had to call a friend of his who works at the FBI just to make sure they weren't actual agents. Add that all up and we're most likely dealing with a group that's really well funded and well organized. You know at the very least somewhere on the same level as Mr. Big's mob." As he spoke he never broke eye contact with Judy putting force behind his words determined to drive his point home once and for all. "What are we suppose to do Judy? You a _Bunny _cop with no resources, no back up, and as far as we know no way home. And then there's me a fourteen year old kid with a couple of guns but compared to what the other guys have, what I've got might as well be water guns."

"Fourteen? But your not fourteen for a few more weeks." His mom said like he and Judy were were simply talking about the weather.

He did a quick double take that was the last thing he had been expecting to hear. It wasn't just what his mother said but also how she said it that brought their argument to a grinding halt. After a few seconds he realized what his mom was trying too do she was trying to give them an easy way out of their argument. But as much as he appreciated that he wanted to put this to bed once and for all. "My birthday is in two weeks it's close enough that it counts, but that's not the point here." He looked back at Judy. "The point is that no matter what we do we're going to die if we go against these guys. Sure we might do some damage but we'd be like a fly to them we'd be slightly annoying at first but in the end they'd swat us. It doesn't matter what we do the two of us can't change that and there's no one we can ask for help cause it won't change that fact either all it will change is the number of people who will die."

Judy gave him a hard almost hurt look and said. "Your the one who said as long as I'm alive I have a purpose and the only purpose I've ever known is being a cop and every thing I know about being a cop says I can't just stand by and do nothing."

It felt like he'd just been sucker punched but it brought to mind one of his greatest worries with Judy so he lowered his voice to a softer calmer one. "That's a low blow Judy. A low blow and you know it. Your right I said that and I meant it, I'd say it again and still mean it. But this seems like the fastest way to end both your life and mine. So I've got to ask do you want to die? And don't just tell me what you think I want to hear, tell me the truth cause I'm the guy who tried to kill himself at the age of six so I'll know if your lying." Out of the corner of his eye he saw his mom flinch at the mention of his attempted suicide but he kept his focus solely on Judy.

Judy looked both shocked and horrified she hesitated then said. "No I don't want to die no matter what I don't want to give up. But y-you-"

He raised a hand cutting her off. Hearing Judy say that took a big weight off his chest but at the same time it pissed him off. "Don't Judy I'm not in the mood for a heart to heart I just want to put an end to this." At first he kept voice calm but now more and more of his anger was leaking back into his voice as he spoke. "I'm happy you don't want to die I really am. But that means that this suicidal plan of yours isn't because your depressed it's because your reckless. You want to run head long into this thing without thinking of what the consequences will be for you, for me, or for my family. And let's say for a moment that we go with what you want to do. We can't stay here we'd have to go under ground which means we'd either have to find a really good place to hide or we'd have to keep on the move. And if these bastards don't catch us quickly enough where do you think they're going to go? They're going to come here they're going to use my family to get to me and then me to get to you. And you know what will happen even if I hand both you and myself over to them they'd still kill my family then they'd kill anyone who helped us and you know it. And I know what I'm about to say next is cruel but it needs to be said. The only reason that you're willing to run head long into this is because you don't have anyone here that you care about. None of your friends, none of your family, no one _you_\- " He jabbed Judy in the shoulder with his finger then leaned forward so that there was only less then an inch separating their faces. "-love or care about are in danger. They're all safe and sound in another world where it doesn't matter what you do or how many people you piss off your family can't be touched. But I guess that's how it works right? It doesn't matter what happens to my family so long as your family is safe, right!?"

"Anthony!" His mom barked and the way she said it would have had him cringing under normal circumstances but he was determined not to show weakness in front of this little bunny.

Judy was vibrating with fury and her foot was thumping a mile a minute against the counter top but at the same time her eyes were filling with tears. Then quick as a flash so fast he couldn't see it Judy slapped him, she slapped him so hard he was sure it was going to bruise. At first he was just shocked then his own rage took the full front of his mind. He straightened up, squared his shoulders, and stood there fists clenched he really wanted to hit her back nearly every part of him was screaming for it.

"Anthony Jacoby Killingsworth if you hit her so help me god I'll-" His mom yelled at him with so much force he almost flinched before cutting her off.

"Don't worry mom I'm not going to hit her she's not worth it." He growled pouring as much venom into his words as he possibly could. "She's not worth hitting. Just like she's not worth me risking my life for. I only did it the first time on an impulse, a whim. One that I'm seriously starting to regret."

That seemed to be the last straw for Judy she made a loud angry squeak then jumped off the counter and stormed down the hallway with tears falling down her face and he heard a door slam towards the back of the house so he figured she was hiding in his mom's room.

Before he could do or say anything else his mom got in his face (or as in his face as she could with her being seven inches shorter then him) "You are lucky that my shift is about to start and I don't have time to deal with you or I'd nock you down a peg or two right here and now. But you and me are going to have a talk tomorrow so when your siblings go to school in the morning your going to stay home and wait for me to get home so I can deal with you, do you understand me?"

"Yes." He said curtly. He didn't back down but he wasn't crazy enough to buck up to his mom like he did with Judy.

"Yes what?" His mom countered venomously.

"Yes _ma'am_." He answered.

"Good and you can cut the attitude." Then she turned to his brother. "Chris if he causes anymore trouble with Judy call me at work." With that his mom walked down the hallway and came back five minutes minutes or so later in her mint green nurses scrubs. "And make sure you close the storm shutters we're suppose to get hit by a hail storm tonight." Then she left slamming the door behind her.

After a few moments he let out a frustrated groan before walking over to the TV and putting on the movie I-Robot before sitting on the couch. As he sat down a yip caught his attention he looked over to see Trixy glaring at him as if she was asking 'how could you be such an ass to the bunny?' "Don't glare at me like that you don't even like her." He snapped at the fox but she only hand laid down with Riot by the dinner table.

...

It was nearly a hour and a half before Judy came back out and when she did she shot him the Atomic Bomb of dirty looks before walking over and siting down at the coffee table with her back to him and started to play a board game with his younger siblings.

Seeing Judy made him feel more then a little guilty so when she sat down he muttered just low enough so that only Judy could hear him. "I'm sorry Judy I really am. That last part I said about regretting that I saved you I didn't mean it I was just mad. But I won't apologize for what I said before that, being reckless because you have nothing to lose is a guaranteed way to make sure you never see anyone you care about again. And I don't want to have to watch you die." He saw Judy's ear twitch but otherwise she didn't show any reaction.

Things were pretty calm for about another forty five minutes so that it was about ten minutes past seven and with it still being February it was completely dark outside. But then something changed at first it was like a slight itch on the back of his neck. But it changed quickly all the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, his heart rate picked up, and it felt like someone was sitting on his chest it took him a whole two seconds to figure out what part of that feeling was. He was being watched. Someone outside the window just behind him was watching him...no the feeling was too strong there was more then one person he could practically feel multiple pairs of eyes boring into the back of his head. That explained why the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end but why was his heart rate sky high why was there fear building in his chest it was almost like he was back in the field.

Realization hit him like a ton of bricks. That's what this feeling was he didn't just feel them watching him he could feel their intent to kill. His mind went into overdrive thinking of every worst case scenario each one worst then the last. Then a movement caught his eye one of Judy's ears had swiveled around and were focused on him.

_'That's right with Judy's hearing she can hear my heartbeat she knows I'm freaking out.' _He thought. _'Then maybe if she try's hard enough she can hear whoever's outside and how many there are.'_

"Hey Fluff." He said making Judy jump slightly before turning her head to glare at him out of the corner of her eye. "Can you come over here for a bit I need to talk to you. And be careful you never know the Boogieman might be _right outside the window_." He did his best to keep both his reaction and tone relaxed like it was a joke in case whoever was outside was listening but at the same time he tried to get the message across that they were in danger. And jugging by how Judy's eye widened his message was received.

"Aj you know the Boogieman's not real." Kelly teased.

"Oh really this from the girl who had me and mom search her room for monsters last Halloween." He teased back not looking away from Judy.

"Th-that's just because I watched that scary movie with you guys before I went to bed." Kelly said sulkily her cheeks tinging pink.

"Alright." Judy said standing up looking at him with a cool expression. "But if you try something I'll knock you out."

"Understood Fluff, understood." He said nodding. He knew that the threat should worry him but he was so wired that he didn't care. When Judy jumped up and sat down next to him she did so with her arms crossed and staring resolutely at the TV not looking at him. He put his arm across the back of the couch and leaned in so there was only a few inches separating them. As a hunter he knew whispers carried much farther then most people thought so instead when he spoke, he spoke in an undertone as if he was talking to himself. "I need you to keep your voice low, no matter what just keep your voice low because we're being watched."

Judy glanced up at him then looked forward and asked so softly he could barely hear her. "How do you know?"

"I can feel it." He answered.

"You can feel it?" She scuffed skeptically. "Knowing mammals are watching you is one thing. But feeling someone watching you out of the blue without any proof is impossible."

"Yes Judy I can feel it. Haven't you ever gone to a bar or a club and felt like someone was watching you out of no where and turn around only to see some guy staring at you obviously thinking he's going to get lucky?" He asked quickly.

"Yes." Judy admitted almost reluctantly.

"It's the same concept I might not be able to look out the window and see them but I feel their eyes on me. Look you can hear my heartbeat you know I'm freaking out. I can't tell you how many are out there but I have no doubt they're out there. That's why I called you over here I figured with your hearing you'd be able to tell how many are out there. If you think I'm crazy fine but please just listen cause the feeling I have now is the same one I had when we were hiding in the Knoll." He said desperately trying to get her to believe him.

Judy looked up at him like she really was about to call him crazy, then she closed her eyes and sighed uncrossing her arms. "Fine." She muttered then with her eyes still closed Judy turned her ears towards the window. At first there was no reaction from Judy then her left ear twitched and then her right ear twitched and her brow furrowed. As he watched Judy's ears started quivering and twitching more as her expression changed from one of confusion to one of fear.

"Not so crazy now am I." He said quietly having a hard time getting his words past the lump that had formed in his throat. He cleared his throat then fearing what the answer would be he asked. "How many did you hear?"

"At least six. They're Thirty-seven yards from the house not too far from the shed." She said weakly looking up at him with wide eyes.

_'Six!? We barley survived one of those nut jobs how the hell are we suppose to survive six of them!?' _He thought panicking.

_**'No not six.' **_Said a little voice in the back of his head. _**'She said 'at least six' meaning she knows for sure that there are six of them but she thinks that there's are more.'**_

_'Oh great so no matter what we're done.' _He thought bitterly then his mind switched gears. _'But what about the other four? What about Chris, Kelly, Austin, and Tomas I can't let them get dragged into this, I need to make sure they stay safe no matter what.'_

"Anthony?" Judy said snapping him back to reality. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah I'm okay." He lied not sounding even slightly convincing. "Do you have any ideas on what we should do? Cause the couple of plans I came up with were centered around them sending two or three people at most after us not a group of six or more."

Judy hesitated for a moment then her face went steely as she went into cop mode and began to look around the room taking it all in saying. "It goes without saying that we need to get your siblings some where safe before we try anything but since the front door is the only way in or out of the house unless we go out a window that not going to be easy." Then she looked back up at him asking. "If we clime out of one of the bedroom windows do you think we could make a run for it?"

One of his plans had been for him and Judy to lead any psychos that came on a merry little goose chance through the woods while Chris or his mom snuck the rest of the family back to town. But since it was completely dark and since he'd bet his right arm that the people outside had night vision goggles that plan wasn't going to work. "If it was still daylight outside I'd say 'yes' but with it being dark they have the advantage you, me, and Chris might make it to town in the dark but the younger three wouldn't be able to. And even then it also all depends on if they have the house surrounded or not."

Judy nodded looking deep in thought saying. "And we can't go room to room to see if I can hear anything or if your sixth sense get's triggered without revealing that we know they're here."

_**'Wait what did she just say.' **_The little voice in his head piped up.

_'She said we can't figure out if they surrounded the house or not.' _He thought.

_**'No she said we can't do it without telling them we know they're here.' **_The voice said slowly. _**'As far as they know we have no clue they're here. And for almost five minutes we've been in clear view of them so why haven't they shot us?' **_His mind ground to a halt.

"Why haven't they?" He muttered.

"What was that?" Judy asked looking confused.

"Why haven't they killed me yet?" He asked looking Judy in the eye. "I mean given your size they probably only caught a glimpse of you when jumped up on the couch but I've been in plain sight this whole time and they haven't shot me, why? I've got the rifles, the weapons that can punch through their armor, while you have your 9mm Black Rabbit and your police training. Which means I can pick them off from a distance while you could tear them apart in close quarters. So their best chance to beat us would be to rush in on us before we know what's happening or to kill me as soon as possible so they can pin you down and pick you off from a distance. So why haven't they shot me or rushed the house yet?"

Judy's eyes widened slightly. "Your right." She turned her head away seeming deep in thought. Then she looked back at him. "Maybe it's because of your siblings maybe they're not trying anything yet because your siblings are here." She said jerking her head towards the younger four who were still obliviously playing their board game.

His stomach started to twist into knots as he shook his head. "As much as I hope that's it Fluff I don't think these are the kind of people that care about innocent casualty."

Judy nodded again then she looked afraid again. "Do you...Do you think that they want to take us alive?"

He shuddered at the thought able to envision what that could mean for them far better then Judy could. "Unfortunately I think that's exactly what they want to do or they just don't want to chance fighting us. Either way they'll be waiting for us to go to sleep so we wouldn't stand a chance."

"We can't beat them we need to hunker down and call Mike, he and his deputies can-" Judy started to say seriously but stopped when he started shaking his head.

He shook his head sadly saying. "It won't work Fluff. Including Mike the town has twelve deputies their armed with shotguns, hunting rifles, and pistols just like us and their kevlar vest are like yours they're meant to stop pistols ad shotguns not fully automatic assault rifles. Mike and his deputies would have just as hard of time as the two of us in a straight up head to head fight against these guys. And the only way for them to get here is through that little dirt road and these guys'll see the headlights of cruiser so they'll be ready, they'll turn that road into a perfect bottle neck the deputies in the first two or three cruisers would be killed before they even got out of their cars. That's half the department gone and the other half wouldn't last much longer. If they take those guys on alone their dead." They had lost they were going to die. It felt like someone had stabbed a knife made of ice into his heart and was twisting it. He was so terrified he wanted to cry and watching Judy's face and ears fall as her eyes filled with fear made it so much worse. But at the same time a good bit of him knew he was going to die that he had no way out and accepted it after all he had brought this down upon himself.

"What do you want to do then?" She asked looking right at him.

He shrugged fighting to stay composed. "I'll leave that up to you Fluff. The way I see it we can surrender and hand ourselves over or we can make a stand and hope that we get lucky again like we did in the field."

Judy let out a shaky breath. "What will they do if we surrender?"

That was a question he didn't want to answer let alone think about but there was no point hiding the truth. "If we're lucky they'll just shoot us. If we're not lucky pain, lot's of pain they'll probably torture us for information. How we beat the man in the field? Who else knows about you? And the longer we stay quite the worse it will get. Hell they'll probably torture just because they can."

Judy closed her eyes for a moment and took another shaky breath. "I think I'd rather fight." She said clearly then she looked away again and asked. "But what about your younger siblings?"

He followed Judy's gaze Chris, Kelly, Austin, and Tomas were still all smiles and laughs sitting at the coffee table playing their game, it literally hurt to looking at them. He struggled to get words passed the lump in his throat. "We can have them hide in the basement hopefully they'll be safe down there."

"How do you get into the basement anyways I haven't found a way down there yet." Judy asked.

"You know the big glass cabinet at the end of the hall way with my mom's china in it?" Judy nodded. "Well under the rug right in front of the cabinet is a trapdoor that leads to the basement. And before you ask I don't think we can hide down there too because if we try sooner or later those bastards are going to come into the house and when they don't find anyone they'll search this place from top to bottom. They'll find the trapdoor and I really don't like the idea of locking myself in an underground room with no way out just waiting for them to come down after us."

Judy nodded in agreement and a moment passed with the two of them just watching his younger siblings. "If only we could distract them some how, some way so that we could all just sneak away." She said sadly.

"Yeah if only." He said but then a voice that sounded like his dad spoke up in his head.

_"Now son the thing to remember about fighting is to never give up in a fight no matter what. Cause no matter how bad things seem there's almost always a way to win. Sometimes it's as simple as taking the obvious choice other times you just have to think outside the box and improvise." _He remembered his dad had told him that seven years ago when he was seven, his dad and some of his dad's army buddy's had been teaching him how to fight. Other then the 'never give up' part he didn't know how that piece of advice fit in here but it kept repeating in his head along with one word 'distract'. Then an idea sparked in his head and with it a glimmer of hope. And the more he thought about it the more he kicked himself for not thinking of it sooner. It was an obviously solution to their problem and no matter how he looked at it the only real problem was the timing. If the timing was off even slightly it was game over but so long as they did it right he, Judy, and everyone else might just survive.

The feeling he had at this revaluation wasn't relief not even close. The ice cold fear was still there but it wasn't over powering like it had been a few seconds ago he was actually able to think without the fear of dying distracting him and pulling him into a dark hole. They had a chance it wasn't a big one but it was a chance none the less. He started to relax some as a small measure of confidence spread through him. "Hey Fluff I've got an idea." He said in answer to the very confused look Judy was giving him. "Follow me to my room and I'll explain, but we might have a chance."

Then he stood up and spoke at a normal volume. "Hey you four keep playing your board games and behave me and Judy need to go to my room and talk a few things over alright." He got a couple nods in response but otherwise his sibling ignored him. Judy stayed on his heels as he walked to his room he held the door open for Judy before closing it behind them, then he crossed the room closed the blinds then turned on his radio and turned it up so it played loud country music so that they could talk normally without the risk of being heard but it also woke up Riot's and Trixy's kits so four tiny little fox heads popped up from their pile of blue blankets to see who had come to visit.

"So what's your idea?" Judy asked as he knelt down beside his bed and pulled out the large metal footlocker containing all of his guns and ammo. "Anthony!?" Judy said urgently.

He glanced up at her as he started on the six digit combination for the lock. "Sorry Fluff. Alright we already established that we can't run, we can't fight them alone, and we can't call Mike to fight them for us cause he and his deputies would get wiped out." He said as he pulled out both of his old twelve gauge pump action Mossberge shotguns (each shotgun holds five shells plus one in the chamber), his R25, and a dozen or so boxes of ammunition. "But what if those guys were distracted?"

He stopped what he was doing and looked at Judy. "What I mean Fluff is we've been looking at this like either we have to fight them or Mike does but what if we both attack them. What if they were so busy shooting at and being shot at by us that they didn't notice Mike or his deputies coming down the road at least not until it's too late and they're being shot in the back. Then they'd be caught out in the open with almost no cover between us and Mike." Judy's ears were standing up stiffly her eyes wide then slowly ever so slowly a small hopeful and mischievous smile spread across her face. "Don't get too excited Fluff like I said it's a chance but like my last plan it's all about the timing and a lot of luck. If we attack them too soon they'll over whelm us and kill Mike and his deputies when they show up. And if we attack to late and don't have their full focus on us-"

"They'll kill Mike and his deputies first or at least hold them off long enough to over whelm us." Judy said completing his sentence for him.

"Exactly Fluff." He said glad that they were on the same page. "So my idea is pretty straight forward while we load the guns I'll call Mike and fill him in on what's going on. Then we'll head back out to the main room act natural and nonchalantly get my siblings down to the basement at the same time we'll close and lock the storm shudders for the windows in the main room, except for the one facing the front yard this way they have to come at us from that direction. Then we'll turn off all the lights and wait by the window for Mike to let us know that he's getting close when he does I'll turn on the flood lights that'll blind them for a few seconds and should allow us to get a few shots off before they even know what's happening while making it really hard for them to see us. After that we keep them busy...and pray."

"It's a decent enough plan but you do realize that your plan realize heavily on luck and that there are a dozen different ways it can go wrong right?" Judy asked but she didn't sound skeptical or overly scared just like she wanted to make sure that he fully understood his plan and their chances.

"I know Fluff, I know. But it's no worse then my last plan and that one had you running naked through the snow while dodging bullets." He joked trying to seem a bit more at ease then he felt. "In fact I personally think this plan has a far better chance of working then the last plan did and this time both of us get to keep our cloths on."

Judy gave him a look some where between stern and embarrassed. "Is this really the time to be making jokes?"

"Any time's a good time for a joke Fluff especially if it keeps me from panicking." He said as he pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts click on Mike's number and pinned his phone between his ear and his shoulder. Judy rolled her eyes then sat down and started to load clips for his R25 while he loaded one of his twelve gauges. But when his call was answered it wasn't Mike's voice he heard on the other end but Susan's.

"Listen here little boy your mother told me what you said to that sweet little bunny and let me tell you-" Susan started angrily.

"Susan...Susan!" He said loudly cutting her off before she could get on a roll. "Look we're friends so I hope you won't take it personally when I say. Please shut up and put Mike on the phone, NOW. You can yell at me for being an asshole later but right now it's a matter of life or death so. Give. Mike. The phone." When he finished speaking all he heard from the other side of the phone was silence. While he waited for Mike to get the phone he noticed that while Judy wasn't looking at him she had a rather smug expression. "Don't look so smug Fluff Susan's only siding with you because of the how I won our argument otherwise she completely agrees with me." However him saying this seemed only to make Judy grin more.

He had just started muttering how winning their argument was a mute point now and she shouldn't be happy about that fact either when Mike's voice came through the phone. "Anthony? What's going on Susan says it's an emergency."

"Mike they're here." He said quickly setting aside the first shotgun and started loading the second shotgun.

"What do you mean 'they're here'? Who's there?" Mike asked sounding both confused and worried.

"Who do you think Mike-" He said quickly pausing for a moment when he felt a slight pressure on his lap he looked down and saw that one of Trixy's kits had climbed onto his lap and was sniffing a shotgun shell that he dropped. Ignoring the kit he continued saying. "-the people who have been looking for me and Judy. I could feel them watching us so I had Judy listen carefully and she confirmed their's a group of them outside my house right now."

"Oh shit. Honey! I need you to call Tyrone at the station right now and tell him that I want him and the others deputies on duty right now fully armed and ready for a fight by the time I get to the station." Mike yelled before talking into the phone again. "Anthony I want you and Judy to grab your siblings barricade yourselves in one of the back rooms or your basement and keep your heads down I'll be there as fast as I can with help."

"No Mike that's not going to work there's too many of them if you and the three deputies on duty right now just storm up here you'll be wiped out." He said urgently as he put the second shotgun aside before grabbing a few more clips for his Glock and all the remaining clips for his R25 saying to Judy. "Here I'll finish loading these start swapping out the hollow points the ZPD gave you for some of my FMJ rounds they'll be more likely to go through these guy's armor if things get up close and personal and see if the .9mm clips I have fit your Black Rabbit if they do use them."

"Wait are you and Judy arming up!?" Mike asked his tone said clearly that he thought they were crazy.

"Yes Mike we're arming up Judy said that she heard at least six people outside the house. But I'd be willing to bet my right arm that there are more then just six of them." He said quickly loading .308 rounds into the clips for his R25. "Whether there are six of them or more it doesn't matter they'll all have automatic weapons on our own me and Judy don't stand a prayer and if you just barge up here they'll use the road as a bottle neck and wipe you out. The only way I can think of too beat them is if me and Judy draw their attention to us and keep them busy and us doing that buys time for you and your deputies get behind them and shoot them in the ass. So you get the whole department ready and on the move while me and Judy get Chris and the others down into the basement and when you and your deputies get five minutes out text me and we'll start our distraction just make sure you get your ass here quick."

"Anthony that's completely insane!" Mike yelled so loudly he had to yank the phone away from his ear. "Do you have any idea how many ways that can go wrong just how many ways this could get you and Judy killed!"

"Mike I know. But if we take them on alone we lose, if you take them on alone you lose. This is our only chance a small chance maybe but it's all we got. Do you have a better plan right now as in right this very second!?" He didn't have time to be nice and he wasn't going to even try.

"Anything else is better then this Anthony ANYTHING!" Mike yelled adamantly refusing to backing down. "Even if we win this is probably going to get the two of you killed!"

"Well Mike unless you have a better idea that gives all of us a better chance to survive all of this your just going to have to do what I did when I first introduced you and Susan to Judy and the two of you backed me into a corner. Suck up and go with the plan even if you don't like it." With that he hung up before Mike could say anything else. And now that all five of the clips for his R25 were loaded he put one into the rifle popping a round into the chamber before detaching the scope from the rifle.

"No scope?" Judy asked still swapping out her ammo.

"No point. They'll be close enough that I won't need one. And I know I probably don't need to say this but don't go for body shot's unless you have to, and if you do cluster your rounds it's the only way your punch through their body armor." He said his voice tense from nerves.

Judy nodded her head and said. "Anthony I know what to do. 'What to do when facing a suspect who's wearing body armor' was covered at the ZPD Academy."

He had suspected as much and he knew telling Judy something she already knew was childish but he couldn't help it. He clipped his six inch hunting knife to the inside of his boot then started to stuff his pockets with the clips for the R25, his .45, a couple boxes of shotgun shells, and a few spare clips for Judy. "See this is why I love cargo pants."

"Do you think Mike'll follow your plan?" Judy asked in a worried tone.

"He'd better otherwise when we're all singing Amazing Grace up in the clouds I'm going to strangle him with his own halo." He scooped up the fox kit in his lap and placing the kit off to the side with a little yelp of protest then he crawled under his bed grabbing an old shoe box when he pulled it out and opened it up he found several types of road flares, two orange plastic flare guns, a couple hand radios, a prepaid cellphone, and four homemade smoke bombs made with soda cans. He grabbed both of the flare guns loaded them both with a white flare put one in the back of his pants then handed the other one to Judy. "Here a flare gun."

Judy grabbed the flare gun and stared at it for a moment before saying. "This is for when they start shooting the flood lights."

"Yep." He closed and slid both the shoe box sliding it back under his bed. "You may hate me and you may not trust me any more then you can throw me. But you have to admit I at least try to cover as many bases as possible."

"I don't hate you and believe it or not but I do trust you." Judy said as she loaded her Black Rabbit.

"Really?" He asked skeptically not believing it for a second.

"Yes, I didn't trust you at first and a part of me did hate you but you had just told me that you were killing and eating members of my species what else could you expect. That was all I knew about you and the kind of mammal you are. If you hadn't saved my life I think I might have shot you or at the very least I would have runaway from you." Judy said standing up so they were on the same eye level. "But in the last two weeks I've seen how you are with your family and how much you care about them. And you've also been taking care of me, you've been trying whatever you can to make sure I have what I need and that I'm comfortable. There's even been a few times were you've fussed over me like a mother hen. Every time I broken down or had a panic attack you were there to help pull me out of them, to help me pull myself back together. And don't think I haven't heard you talking in your sleep when your having your nightmares. I still don't like that you hunt and I never will but the only real problem I have with you other then the fact that you can be massive pile of carrot shavings some times; is that despite the fact that you know what's happening and what these mammals are killing innocent mammals for no other reason then being in the wrong place at the wrong time and your not even trying to stop them. And it's not as if you can't do it, look at what's happening right now-" Judy gestured towards the window. "-look at the plan you managed to come up with at the last minute. Sure it relies mostly on luck and really good timing but I don't think I could do any better not without Intel and a few days too plan. I know that you hate these mammals as much as I do if not more for what they've done to us. And for whatever else they've done to others or might be doing right now but still you refuse to even try to stop them and I have no clue why." When Judy finished she waited for a moment obviously expecting him to give her an answer but he had nothing he couldn't think of an answer to give so she only sighed and walked out of the room leaving him alone.

The way he saw it Judy had all but called him a coward and it pissed him off he didn't know what Judy wanted him to do no matter how many times he told her she obviously didn't believe him when he said that fighting these people would only end with them being killed. Even if they won a dozen fights or more it would all end the same way but given their current situation he was getting the over whelming feeling that he wouldn't have a choice and that both terrified him and pissed him off further. But despite all of his fear and anger there was a small voice in the back of his head spoke up(a voice that sounded a lot like his dad). The voice had been there since he had first woken up the day after they got back to town and had stayed with him like a slight itch but with Judy's constant pushing over the last few days it had been growing in strength. And that little voice all ways said that Judy was right and that he needed to pulled his head out of his ass and do what his dad would do, too do what he had been raised too do.

He slammed the lid too his footlocker and took a second to compose himself before he stood up and grabbed both of his shotguns and his rifle, he debated about grabbing the AR but he decide it was best not to fight with a weapon he never used before. So he pushed the footlocker back under his bed before walking out into the hallway then he propped the guns up against the wall just outside his door then he headed for the living room. As he entered the room he saw that everything was how he left it his siblings were still playing a board game and Riot and Trixy were still laying under the dinner table but now Judy was by the front door with an unreadable but serious expression with one paw on the grip of her pistol. He quickly composed himself and forced a smile on his face as he clapped his hands to get his siblings attention.

"Alright guys it's bed time." He said causing his siblings to groan.

"Oh come on Aj just a little longer." Kelly pleaded giving him puppy dog eyes.

"Yeah come on it's not even eight yet why do we have to go to bed early?" Chris complained.

"We need to go to bed early because tomorrow is the first day back to school. You guys should be happy that we got a couple more weeks of winter break since the pipes at school froze and burst. But now that the pipes are fixed it's back to going to bed early and waking up early so get use to it." He said as he walked over to the table crossing his arms.

"But we're not even tired." Tomas whined jutting out his lower lip.

"And when eight o'clock comes round you won't be tired then either." He said as he gently pulled Tomas to his feet. "But if you go lay down now you'll be asleep by eight and you'll actually wake up on time to get ready and catch the bus. Or do you want to be late for your first day back to kindergarten?"

"No." Tomas said with a pout fixed firmly on his face.

"Then you and Austin need to start putting the board games away okay, Kelly help them please and make sure that everything goes were it's suppose to. Chris can you shut the storm shutter in the kitchen while I get the other two and make sure you lock it into place." He got muttered agreement from each of his siblings though they obviously weren't happy but they all started to do what he told them to.

He crossed the room to the window by the dinner table and opened it by the whole panel swinging inward and latching it to eye bolts in bedded in the ceiling. Then he reached up to the large rectangular metal box bolted to the outside window seal above the window and pulled out a thin chain from inside a little cubby hole. He started pulling on the chain lowering the storm shutter once it was fully lowered he slid the bolt locks into place securing the shutter into place silently thankful that the shutters locked from the inside and not the outside. Then he closed the window before he turned and walked over to the window behind the couch next to the front door and as he did he quickly snagged a penny off the side table between the couch and the recliner. When he reach up for the chain to lower the shutter he stuck the penny between the gears to jam it. He pulled on the chain and gave it a few tugs and just like he wanted the chain didn't move but he didn't try too hard out of fear of dislodging the penny.

"What's wrong?" Chris asked from behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder at Chris then gave the chain a few more halfhearted tugs saying. "Don't know I think the gears are jammed or something."

"let me try." Chris said walking over grabbing the chain two quick but hard jerks.

"Wow, wow, wow easy there He-Man it's obviously already broken don't make it worse." He said quickly as he held his hands up in a calming gesture. Then he reached out gently taking the chain away from Chris saying. "Okay here's what we're going to do. We're going to leave this shutter alone and hope that the hail doesn't break the window, and if it does there's nothing we can do about it. So let's all just go to bed okay." He closed the window corralling his siblings towards the hallway. "Hey Fluff you going to be okay out here? Cause I'm sure that my mom wouldn't mind if you wanted to use her room tonight since the shutters broken."

"Oh no, I'm fine you don't have to worry." Judy played along casually though her face was still unreadable. "Besides I'm sure it'll take a more then a little hail to break the window."

_'Yeah but a hail of bullets will be more then enough.' _He thought bitterly but instead said. "Alright but if you change your mind you know where my mom's room is." Then he turned his head towards the table and barked. "Riot, Trixy Aufmerksam!" (Aufmerksam is the german word for alert and sounds to me like it's pronounced as alf-mert-son) He knew that using the command was risky but he was hoping that if anyone outside was listening that they didn't know german. But at his command both fox's heads popped up and when he repeated the command they both ran of to his side their fur standing on end.

His youngest three sibling were busy talking among themselves but the fact that he was giving Riot and Trixy commands in german wasn't lost on Chris. Chris gave him a confused and slightly worried look. Because Chis knew that when it came to Riot and Trixy there were two kinds of commands every day commands like 'come here', 'sit', 'lay down'. But then there were commands that were only used in a serious situation or when he took them hunting and all of those commands were in german. And as they turned the corner and started down the hallway Chris saw the guns leaning against the wall by his door Chris turned quickly towards him with his eye's wide with fear. And he wasn't the only one.

"Aj why are-" Kelly started as she looked at the guns but he quickly cut her off.

"Alright that's enough it's not talk time it's bed time now come on let's go." He said ushering them further down the hallway he wanted to make absolutely sure that they were completely out of site of the window in the main room. Once they were level with his door he stopped them and put a finger to his lips to make sure they knew to stay quiet then he crouched down in front of the younger three as he figured they'd have a harder time understanding what was happening then Chris would. He kept his voice low as he spoke even though he had kept the radio in his room playing.

"Okay I want you guys to stay quiet I want you to only answer me by nodding or shaking your head understand?" Once he got nods from all of his siblings he continued. "Alright now you guys remember that me and Judy told you how we were attacked by a bad man in the woods and that's how we got hurt right?" He directed his words towards the younger three and got another round of nods. "Good because there are bad men outside right now." At his words Chris went chalk white and started to tremble he understood what that meant but when Judy placed a reassuring paw on his hand Chris seemed to steel himself some. The younger three looked nearly as scared as Chris but instead opened their mouths to try and talk all at the same time but he quickly stopped them. "Shhh, remember what I said you need to stay quiet. Everything is going to be fine I promise."

He'd tried to be reassuring but it didn't seem to work very well all four of them looked absolutely terrified and Tomas was quickly approaching a full break down a few tears were already falling down his face. Thankfully Trixy's maternal instincts kick in as she walked behind Tomas then wrapped herself around him so that both her head and her tail were on Tomas's stomach. The vixen had a calming effect as Tomas started petting her head with one hand while hugging her head to him with the other.

"See even Trixy's trying to say that everything be alright. You guys don't need to worry the bad guys aren't going to get you I'm not going to let them and Judy's not going to let them." He said fist pointing at himself then at Judy. "Your all going to be safe I promise."

"But what about you?" Kelly asked her voice shaking. "They could kill you."

He nodded his head knowing a complete lie would do more harm then good at this point but the truth was going to hurt more so instead he said. "Your right they could kill me but your forgetting something Judy's going to be helping me. With the two of us helping each other the bad guys won't stand a chance so you don't need to worry, okay?" Kelly nodded but he didn't think that he convinced her. "Okay I need to know are all of the blinds in your rooms closed?" When each of them nodded he continued. "Good now I need you to do exactly what I tell you Austin, Tomas I want the two of you to too take off your shoes and stay here with Judy make sure you stay quiet we don't want the bad guys to hear us. Chris and Kelly I need you to go to your rooms get your pajamas put them on your beds, take off your shoes, count to ten in your head, and then I want you to come right back here make sure you two turn off your lights and close your doors as quietly as you can got it?" Both Chris and Kelly nodded before heading quickly heading to there respective rooms (Chris's room was right next to his room and right across from the bathroom. Kelly's room was right next to Chris's and was right across from their mom's room). Then he stood up and went directly across from his room into Austin's and Tomas's room went straight to their dresser and started pulling out random pieces of their cloths then putting the cloths on their bunk bed then counted to ten before heading back into the hall.

As he walked out he saw that Judy was quietly consoling Austin and Tomas trying to keep them calm (Trixy was still half wrapped around Tomas), Chris was already walking down the hall from his room, and Kelly was closing her door. It was only a few seconds before everyone was grouped up again once they were he had the younger three follow him into his room and gave two of Trixy's kits to Kelly then one each to Austin and Tomas so that the four defenseless fox kits would be out of harms way. Then he grabbed one of the shotguns as lead everyone down to the end of the hallway he gently set the shotgun on the floor grabbed the rug in front of an old antique cabinet (filled with antique plates, bowls, cups, silver wear, ect.) and tossed it aside before digging his fingers into the grooves of a well disguised wooden panel picking it up revealing a trapdoor beneath and moving it slowly he set it down against the cabinet being careful not to drop it or bang it against the glass. Then he grabbed the handle on trapdoor pulling it open revealing a small flight of steep concrete stairs, he quickly gestured his siblings down the stairs.

"That doesn't look like your typical basement door." Judy said staring at the trapdoor which was three inches of steel that could only be locked or unlocked from the inside by two deadbolts.

"This place was built from the ground up by a guy obsessed with the end of the world." He reminded her as the younger three started down the steps taking the four fox kits with them. Riot and Trixy tried to follow but he stopped them with a swift command in german neither fox looked happy and Trixy started to whine but they stopped trying to follow their kits into the basement. Chris was the last one to go down the steps but he reached out and put his hand on Chris's chest stopping him.

"Hold up for a second Chris. I need you to listen to me okay. Once you get down there make sure you turn on the heater and when I close this door I want you to lock it and don't open it for anyone who isn't me, Judy, Mike, or mom you understand me?" Chris nodded his head quickly. "Good and I need you to take this." He said grabbing the shotgun and holding it out to Chris, who's eyes went wide as saucers as he shook his head his mouth working like he was trying to talk but no words came out. He pressed the gun into his brothers chest saying fiercely. "Take it Chris, you need to take it!" But Chris only continued to stared at him wide eyed shaking his head. So he changed tactics and said. "Listen to me Chris, me and Judy are going to try our best to hold these guys off until Mike gets here but there is a good chance that their going to beat us and if they do, if they find the trapdoor to the basement and they get it open you need to protect the others. Do you remember what dad use to tell us whenever he deployed?" Chris seemed to panic a little less as he nodded. "Alright then what did he say?"

"He said that we were the m-men of the house while he was gone and we needed to help m-mom and the others however we can." Chris said his voice shaking slightly.

"And?" He prompted.

Chris swallowed before saying. "And we needed to protect them because...because-"

"-a man protects his family no matter what." He and Chris finished in unison. He nodded his head and continued. "That's right and if worst comes to worst, if they get past me and Judy and they try to get into the basement your the one who can protect the others and your going to need this to do that." He pressed the gun against Chris chest again and this time Chris hesitantly grabbed it. "Good. Here take this too just in case." He said handing Chris a box of shotgun shells. "Remember you go down there and no matter what don't come up or open the door for anyone but me, Judy, mom, or Mike. And if anyone else comes down those steps you shoot them understand." He waited until Chris nodded his head then slowly back down the stairs. Once Chris had walked far enough down the stairs he closed the trapdoor and as he put the wooden panel back into place he heard the metallic click of the deadbolt locking into place.

"Do you really think you should've given him that." Judy said both looking and sounding worried as he straightened the rug back out. "I know we're in danger and that you can handle a gun but Chris isn't like you I don't think he should have a loaded gun."

He turned towards Judy still crouching. "I know but it's that or leave them completely defenseless." Not that an eleven year old with a shotgun provides much protection or stands much of a chance. He added privately but even then he figured a small amount of protection was better than nothing. He shook his head lightly trying to clear it then he looked at Riot then pointed at the fox. "Riot. Schutzen! Schutzen!" He said thumping his hand against his chest. Next he pointed at Trixy. "Trixy. Schutzen! Schutzen!" but this time he lightly tapped Judy's shoulder. (Schutzen: pronounced shoot-zen the german word for protect)

"What was that about?" Judy asked looking very confused as Trixy walked over and pressed herself into Judy's side taking a defensive stance.

"I told them to protect us." He said as he stood up and Riot took a similar stance up against his shins. "Now they'll stick to us like glue and Trixy will take any commands you give her like sit, stay, and attack." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath when he open his eyes again he gestured down the hall saying. "Come on let's get this started."

As they went down the hallway he turned off the hallway light then just before he duck into his room he gestured towards the main room saying. "Keep going Fluff I'll meet you there and make sure you turn off the lights I don't want them to know I'm back out there till we pull the trigger." Judy nodded and kept going while he went and turn off both his radio and the light then he grabbed his phone and checked the time his phone said it was 7:49 PM he then turned the brightness as low as it would go before putting it in his pocket. Then grabbed his R25 and the second shotgun and headed to the main room. With all of the lights off and the clouds outside blocking the moon the house was pitch black even as his eyes adjusted he was only barley able to tell the outline of larger objects. But thankfully finding his way to the three foot section of wall separating the front door and the window was rather easy since he knew the house so well. He had Riot lay down by the arm of the couch so that if bullets came through the door he would't get hit, then placed his phone on the back of the couch, and leaned his shotgun up against the wall before doing the same himself leaning left shoulder first against the wall holding his R25.

"So hopefully we're right about them wanting to take us alive if we are they'll most likely wait a few minutes to make sure we're completely asleep before advancing on the house. But if they get within fifteen yards of the house we'll have to attack otherwise we'll lose the little advantage the flood lights will give us, alright?" He said all of this as quietly as he could even with his heart beating like a jackhammer.

"Alright." Judy's voice came quietly from the darkness some where in front of him on the couch then she spoke again sounding a bit hesitant. "Anthony that thing you had Chris say is that why your so against fighting these mammals because you think it's your response ability to take care of your whole family?"

"It's partly because I know better then to try and start a fight that I know that I won't win and that goes double if I have no chance of getting my enemy to fight me on my terms and or twist the circumstances in my favor. But yes a really big part of it is that my family is everything to me, no matter what they're always there for me so if I'm not going to look out for them who will. I'd do anything to protect or even simply take care of my family." He said firmly, he held onto his instinct and need to protect his family and use it to center himself into what he needed to do because he was under no illusions if his siblings weren't here and in danger he would be tacking his chances of running away and disappearing into the woods no matter how much of an advantage these people had in the dark with their night vision goggles he would have ran given the chance.

"Even if you never get to have a childhood or goes against what you know is right?" Judy asked in a tone that said she was having a hard time understanding.

He gave her an ironic chuckle before saying. "After being friends with Nick you should know Fluff not everyone gets to have the luxury of a childhood and what's right changes from person to person at least it's by my own choice not something that's been forced on me. Besides haven't you been using the last three days to convince me to give up everything I have and care about so that I can help you drag all of these bastards to justice." He stared out the window straining his eyes too see anything outside but with the clouds blocking out the moon and stars he could barley tell the difference between the top of the trees and the sky. "That's what I've been trying to tell you Judy going after these guys isn't going to be like when you went after Bellwether. She was so over confident and cocky it wasn't even funny plus her operation was small. But I think it's obvious by now these guys aren't a small operation which means we're going to have to fight and kill to get any evidence against them but we'd have a better chance at winning the lottery then we would at finding enough evidence to stop these people and live long enough to use it. But it doesn't seems like there's a choice anymore." Icy fear threatened to build up in his chest over what waited him if he managed to survive this fight. He did his best to lock down on that fear knowing he had to keep his head in the game because if he got distracted it would cost more then just his life but as hard as he tried the fear gnawed at the edge of his mind.

Judy didn't say anything and since he couldn't see her in the dark he had no way to tell how she reacted to his words. And he didn't get the chance to dwell on that or any of his other thoughts or feelings because at that moment his phone dimly light up showing him two things. One: the time was 7:53 PM and Two: a text message from Mike with only one word.

'NOW'

He took a breath and reached up to the light switch that controlled the flood lights saying. "It's time Fluff get ready." He hesitated for a second with his hand on the switch then with a deep breath he flipped the switch activating the flood lights flooding the front yard with light then brought up his rifle taking aim out the window in a single blur of motion. But before he could sight a target he froze his heart stopping cold in his chest as one thought screamed in his head_ 'That's a hell of a lot more then six people!'._

In the front yard he could see that there was easily far more than a dozen people dressed all in black standing out like a sore thumb against the layer of white snow on the ground around them. They were all wearing bulky military style body armor, kevlar helmets, cloth masks that covered their faces up to their eyes, each of them held an assault rifle, and all of them were cringing away from the sudden blinding light. He was frozen for only a fraction of a second then there were two gun shots just to his right and the window shattered and fell like a waterfall of glittering crystals in the dim light that reflected back towards the house from the brightly light yard. He snapped out of his daze as the glass fell he took aim at one of the men closest to the house and pulled the trigger the bullet missed the man by a few inches and impacted against the ground right next to the foot of another man twenty or so yards behind the one he originally aimed for. He adjusted his aim and pulled the trigger again this time the man spun sideways as the bullet impacted his shoulder. As the man hit the ground he switched aim to another target vaguely aware of three more quick shots from Judy's pistol and another black clad attacker jerking from bullet impacts. His new target was recovering from shock of his and Judy's sudden attack and was vaguely aiming his rifle in their general direction. But before the man got the chance to shoot at them he shot the man in the hip causing him to fall forward. He saw his second target hit the ground but before he could take aim at a third target he had to quickly duck behind the wall and Judy ducked down below the window seal up against the back of the couch as dozens of bullets flew through the window.

"Holy crap!" He yelled as wood and concrete chips flew through the air as bullets caught the edge of the window seal, tore through the front door, and both Riot and Trixy ran under the coffee table for cover. He saw a number of holes appeared in the TV causing it to spark before crashing to the floor, he heard glass shatter, and loud metal clangs as dozens of bullets buried themselves in the kitchen destroying everything and even punching through the storm shutter.

"So much for the element of surprise." Judy yelled then she popped up and quickly fired two more rounds before crouching back down.

"At least they can't see us." He yelled back before following her lead and firing two shots in the general direction of the first group of figures he laid eyes on before he ducked back behind the wall. He was really glad that with all the lights in the house off even with a bit of light reflecting back at them off the snow in the yard he could barley see Judy so with their attackers being blinded by the flood light he doubted they could see anything other then the muzzle flashes from his and Judy's guns. About a minute past as the hail of bullets continued with him and Judy popping in and out of cover taking pot shots at whoever they could. He was changing out his second spent clip for his R25 when he heard several loud pops and saw showers of sparks as a few of the flood lights went out. "They're shooting the lights. Use your flare." He yelled and he pulled the flare gun from the waist of his pants the parsley leaned out the window in an effort to get the flare to go straight over the house so that it didn't light up him and Judy making it easier for them to be seen. Judy quickly followed suit with her own flare. With the two new light sources their attackers stopped shooting at lights and between the flood lights and the two flares the yard was light up like it was day time. But that also meant that there was even more light coming through the window so that even through they both were still mostly covered in shadow he didn't have to straighten his eyes to see Judy anymore.

As Judy crouched back down she yelled. "How long until the flares burn out?"

"Fifteen minutes." He answered as he popped a round into the chamber his R25. He crouched so he'd present less of a target in the hope he'd have more time to aim and went to line up a shot. But then his rifle jerked sideways with so much force it was nearly ripped out of his hands at exactly the same moment bullets racked along the couch cushions from left to right. And he saw Judy's shirt ripple as a bullet slammed into her chest sending her flying with a sound somewhere between a shriek and gasp.

"NOOO!" He screamed as Judy sailed into the darkness and out of sight.

From outside a female voice yell. "The rabbit's down move in and overwhelm the boy!"

His head snapped around as a shadow fell over him he saw the silhouette of a man less then a foot from him. He couldn't see the man's face clearly but he could see the assault rifle hanging at the man's right side and that the man's left arm was outstretched holding what looked like some kind of a small sub-machine gun almost directly over his head. At the sight of the man his vision tinged red and just like back in the field he was filled with rage and at the moment he had only one thought in his head, kill the man in front of him. He dropped his rifle and reached up grabbing the man's left wrist in his hand forcing the man's hand towards the ceiling as he stood up and at the same time he swung his right arm in a backhanded swing knocking the weapon out of the man's hand. The man gave a startled yell and tried to pull away but he grabbed the man's arm with both hands and slammed it against the window seal as hard as he could throwing his entire body weight behind the motion with a resounding crack the man's forearm broke. As the man screamed in pain and tried to pull away but he kept a firm hold on the man with his left hand and drew his .45 with his right hand and quickly fired two shots point blank into the man's face. His nose filled with a coppery metallic sent as a light mist of blood hit his face and the man's screams stopped and fell to the ground like a sack of hammers.

With the man so close too the house the other attackers had stopped firing so as the man fell to the ground he turned his head in the direction that Judy had disappeared and yelled. "JUDY!" He strained his eyes hoping that Judy would come out of the darkness or at least call out so he'd know she was alive. His snapped his head back around as he heard heavy foot falls and saw that at least eight more of the attackers were rushing towards the house the closest of whom was no more then six feet away. This new man stopped in his tracks and tried to raise his rifle but the man wasn't fast enough. He quickly leveled his .45 at the man and fired two rounds the first one missed but the second caught the man in the side of his neck. As blood started to squirt from the hole in his neck the man staggered dropping his rifle then the man's hands shot up to his neck trying to stop the bleeding. The man turned and started to stagger back towards the main group of attackers. But the man didn't take more then a few steps before he fired two more shots both hitting the man in the thigh causing him to hit the ground still clutching his neck.

Seeing two of their comrades fall in quick succession seemed to make the advancing line attackers falter for a moment several stopped completely and started shooting obviously deciding it was better to shoot at him then to get closer to the house.

As he ducked back behind his protective section of wall he dropped his .45 and grabbed his shotgun having already realized that there was no way he'd be able to fire enough bullets fast enough with either his .45 and his R25 to keep the attackers at bay, at least not by himself. The buckshot had zero chance of getting through their armor but each buckshot pellet still packed a punch and the spread of the pellets meant it was very likely that at least a couple pellets would find exposed fleshy targets and it also gave him a chance to hit multiple targets with a single shot. He aimed his shotgun out the window being careful to keep as much of himself as he could hidden behind the wall and fired at the right side of the closest line of attackers. Then he slid the pump action as he quickly swung the barrel towards the left side of the line and fired before repeating the action firing a third shell at the center of the line. Finally he was forced back behind the wall when a bullet flew by his head far too close for comfort. But he was filled with both a grim and dark satisfaction as he clearly hear several different voices cry out in pain then start cursing at him and as he peeked around the corner to see the closest attackers backing off trying to regain some distance from his shotgun. (Note most shotguns have an effective range of 45 yards or 41.15 meters)

Having bought himself a moment before he was forced to fend off there next attack he focused his attention to where Judy had disappeared. "Judy!... Come on say something!" He waited but instead of getting a verbal response he watched as a small grey paw appeared on the edge of the couch. Judy hoisted herself back on the couch with one arm and clutched her chest with the other; once up she grabbed her pistol and sat leaning up against the back of the couch with a pained expression. He was in complete shock not only was Judy still alive and moving around, but he had expected to see a dark blood stain on her shirt but he didn't see a single trace of blood. "H-H-How...How..." He tried to speak but for some reason he couldn't get the words to form. Luckily Judy got the gist of what he wanted to ask because with a small pained smile she grabbed bottom of her shirt and pulled it up. And instead of seeing the snow white fur that covered her stomach and chest, her stomach looked like it was solid black and devoid of fur. Because of the shock of seeing Judy more or less unharmed it took his brain a second to catch up with what he was seeing then his brain kicked into gear and he realized that Judy was wearing her ZPD Kevlar vest. He couldn't stop from laughing as relief flooded through him. "You sly little bunny. You scared me half to death."

"Scared me too." Judy huffed as she settled herself into a crouch still holding her left arm against her chest. Then her ears twitched towards the window. "Their leader is getting really mad and she has quiet the mouth."

"Yeah well let her be mad because now I'm pissed and I can't wait for her reaction when Mike get's here." He said as he loaded two more shells. "But until then what do you say to us making them regret that they ever come here?" He slid the pump action on his shotgun using the signature Click-Click to emphasize his last few words. Judy's face scrunched up he wasn't sure if it was from pain or if she was going to be sick but she gave him determined nod. The two of them once again took up the pattern of popping in and out of taking quick pot shots at their attackers only this time they kept a careful eye out in case anyone else tried to sneak up in their blind spot again.

Once he fired the last round in his shotgun he duck back behind the wall and reached into his pocket grabbing three more shells. As he loaded the shells he peeked out the window studying his front yard. Most of their attackers had spread out and where keeping low or laying on the ground due to the lack of cover and where keeping up an almost constant stream of fire to try and keep him and Judy suppressed. And while he knew he had at least hit several of the attackers his shotgun just couldn't penetrate their armor unless all he could do the same couldn't be said for Judy's pistol as he could see at least three more black clad figures lying perfectly still with blood staining the snow around them. He reached for three more shells and nearly dropped them as there were several loud crashes against the metal shutter by the dinner table and then several male voices from the other side.

"It's locked!" The first voice said not sounding happy to be so close to the house.

"Of course it's fucking locked you dumb ass! That over grown rat and the little fucker helping it were smart enough to get the drop on us do you honestly think they'd be dumb enough to leave it unlocked?" A second voice shouted.

"Then what are we suppose to do?" The first voice asked.

"Rip the box at the top off the wall and pull the damn thing down." The second voice shot back. This was followed almost instantly by banging he could only imagine the two men had started slamming the butts of their rifles against the wall and the storm shutter.

As the banging started he loaded the sixth and final shell into the chamber of his shotgun. He caught Judy's worried look and said. "Don't worry Fluff I already told you their not getting through that." Just as he finished his sentence one of the men poked his head around the corner of the house. He quickly raised his shotgun and fired but the man pulled his head back a split second before he pulled the trigger. "Go ahead asshole stick your head out again I dare you! I won't miss twice!" He yelled racking another shell into the chamber. He had his gun up hoping the man would peek back around the corner when he heard the faint sound of breaking glass coming from down the hall.

"That came from both your mom's and Kelly's rooms!" Judy said in horror. "They're climbing through the windows!"

"Shit!" He yelled then yelled in his head. _'Why didn't I think of that! Of course they'd be able to gt in through the back rooms those window don't have any shutters and their an obvious weak point in our defense. How the hell did I over look that!'_

A fresh wave of adrenaline and panic surged through him. His plan had back fired on them in the worst way possible and they were completely screwed. They were flanked the bad guys had gotten in behind them if they stayed here they'd be the ones caught between two groups of attackers. They could back off from the window and used the kitchen counter as cover but then they'd be trapped in a corner fending off attacks from two directions. Or one of them could go down the hall and deal with the smaller group while the other guards the window. If he went down the hallway he'd lose the few advantages that had been keeping him alive and unless he got crazy lucky again he doubted he could hold out against these people in close quarters. Judy on the other hand was far smaller and far fast then what these people were trained to fight, that coupled with her own ZPD training Judy could tear them apart in close quarters. But after the hit she took to her chest earlier he knew she would at least have bruised ribs so just running would be difficult for her let alone any kind of fancy maneuver that would give her the upper hand.

With his brain in overdrive he realized this in the span of about a second. He clinched his jaw and growled in frustration he couldn't think it through he didn't have time every second counted he couldn't come up with a plan all he could do was react.

"Damn it!" He yelled as he kicked the wall trying to vent some of his frustration then quickly said. "Alright Judy your going to have too handle thing up here while I go and deal with our friends in the back."

"I hear four of them are you going to be able handle that many by yourself?" Judy asked him her tone deadly serious.

"I'm going to have too. With you hurt there's no other choice." With that he pushed away from the wall and as he made a beeline for the hallway he yelled. "Riot Anriesen!" (Anriesen german word for come pronounced an-rye-zen. Note: you roll the R) At the command Riot bolted out from under the coffee table right to his side.

As he entered the hallway he slowed down his pace to a fast walk keeping his shotgun raised and ready. While the first few feet of the hallway were dimly light by light reflecting back in from the yard the farther you went down the hall the darker it got so that the end of the hall was nearly pitch black. His eyes were adjusting to the dark as he moved down the hall but they weren't adjusting as quickly as he wanted. He had just past Chris's bedroom door when the door to his mom's room opened adding a small amount of light to the end of the hall and a black clad figure stepped out into the hallway rifle raised.

He didn't give the man a chance as soon as the man turned in his direction exposing most of the man's chest he fired. He knew that even at this close rang it was very unlikely the buckshot would penetrate the body armor protecting the man's chest. But they didn't have to penetrate the man's armor at this close of a range the buckshot pellets wouldn't spread much so the man was hit with the full force of the shotgun blast. And since the man was unprepared to take a hit like that the force was strong enough too throw him back a couple of feet right into the side of his mom's china cabinet breaking the glass on the front and collapsing several of the shelves as he slid too the ground.

He racked the pump action for a new shell yelling. "Riot Umbringen!" (Umbringen german word for kill pronounced as oom-bring-en) At the command Riot launched himself forward in a snarling blur of fur and flashing teeth. Riot quickly landed on the man before sinking his teeth into the man's throat thrashing his head back and forth tearing the man's throat too shreds so that when the man tried to scream it only came out as a high pitched gurgle.

While Riot was busy ripping out the first man's throat he moved side ways down the hall so he could get a clear view into his mom's room. As soon as he caught sight of a second figure in his mom's room he fired but this time he didn't have the element of surprise this time and the figure threw itself sideways behind his mom's bed so all he managed to do was pepper his mom's wall. He quickly racked the pump action and planned to move in and finish off the figure before they could recover. But before he could the door behind him leading to Kelly's room creaked as it cracked open and the barrel of a rifle was poked through the gap between the door and the door jam.

In a split second decision he spun around and grabbed the rifle barrel and pulled as he kicked the door open simultaneously revealing the man behind the door and yanking the weapon from the person's hands sending it skidding down the hall. The man was taken off guard by his sudden action but the man recovered in a manner of seconds. He had just started to raise his shotgun to shoot the man in the head when the man sprung forward grabbing the barrel of his shotgun and forcing it towards the ceiling. The man quickly readjusted his grip to match his own and started to wrestle him for his shotgun, he held on tight and held his ground as the man tried to force him to either let go of the gun then or force him back into his mom's room.

He quickly realized that not only was the man half a foot shorter then himself but in a contest of strength he could beat the man easily. But he couldn't afford to stand here and wrestle with this guy his back was exposed to whoever was inside of his mom's room and if Judy was right there was a fourth target somewhere that he hadn't seen yet. He had two choices he could either put an end to this tug-a-war right now or he could back down the hallway and use the man as a living shield. He decided that it was too much to expect the man to willingly by led like a puppet on a string as he backed down the hallway. So he quickly and violently twisted his shotgun sideways to throw the man off balance before forcing the man sideways so that the man's back was facing what was left of his mom's china cabinet.

"It's going to take more then that throw me off." The man growled in response to the sudden movement.

He didn't bother coming up with a come back instead he readied himself to force the man back and slam him against the cabinet and the wall. But before he could a loud high pitch yelp came from behind him catching his attention. He looked behind himself expecting to see Riot hurt or fighting another target but Riot wasn't there he was still choking the last few sparks of life out of the first man who came into the hallway. And that's when he heard the rifle fire.

The rifle fire had never stopped it had been there the whole time along with the bark of Judy's .9mm but he had been so focused it had all faded to back ground noise. But now it was different the sounds of rifle fire were fewer in number but louder. And it was with horror that he realized that every time he heard a rifle shot he could see the light from the muzzle flashes illuminate the main room like a strobe light.

His focus had completely shifted away from the man who was in front of him and the man took full advantage of that. The man pushed against him full force so that he was completely off balance and struggling to keep on his feet before he even realized his mistake. He was trying hard too both push the man back and regain his footing but his right leg ended up cocked at an odd angle and his bad knee buckled so that he fell down hard on to one knee nearly knocking him flat. Now the man was standing over and it didn't matter that he was both bigger and stronger then the man from this position the man had all the leverage he needed to hold him here. And at the same time movement to his left showed that the figure he had shot at earlier had stood up again and was aiming in their direction.

But at the exact same moment that he fell and the man moved forward so that he was standing over him just as there was a burst of rifle fire from his left and the man jerked and grunted as the bullets slammed into his side and back. As soon the bullets hit the man went limp and he was knocked flat on his back as the man's full weight land on top of him. A moment of fresh panic sparked to life in his chest as he realized he was pinned under a dead body and that he could feel the man's blood soaking into his shirt. He immediately started to fight his way out from under the body but he had only managed to free his right side before the figure he had shot at earlier had appeared in the doorway to his mom's room. As soon he saw the figure he grabbed his shotgun from the floor and quickly aimed it in the direction of the figure. Once his gun barrel was raised he pulled the trigger but because he was shooting with only one hand the shotgun bucked hard nearly ripping it's way out of his grip as a result most of the shot missed and hit the wall. But a few pellets clipped the figure's right hip and it wasn't until the figure screamed in pain as it fell to the ground did he realize that the figure was a woman.

Once she was on the ground he continued his struggle to get out from under the man's body while pointing at her and yelling. "Riot Umbringen! Umbringen!"

The command caught Riot's attention and the fox raised his head from the now dead body of the first man into the hallway and looked at the woman he was pointing at before baring his teeth again letting loos a fresh snarl and pouncing at the woman's throat. But the woman saw it coming and managed to get her arm up in the nick of time so that Riot's jaws closed on her wrist instead of her throat. While this action had saved her life Riot was quick to start whipping his head back and forth ripping open the woman's wrist causing blood to star gushing out and around Riot's teeth, he could even hear the pops and cracks as Riot broke her wrist. After a moment Riot released her ruined wrist backing off slightly before launching himself forward in a new attempt to get at the woman's throat. But once again managed to get her arm up to protect herself this time she presses her forearm against the base of Riot's throat so that his jaws only snapped at the air inches from her face. Then with her good hand she grabbed Riot's chest and with a roar somewhere between pain and fury she threw Riot five feet over her right shoulder right into the corner of his mom's bed frame. But Riot yelped when he hit the hard wood but he recovered quickly and retaliated by charging forward and began to tear into the woman's right shoulder causing her to start screaming again as she started to punch him trying to get him off.

Everything since the moment he gave Riot the command to attack had happened in no more then a minute and by this point he had already managed to free himself and was back on his feet shotgun in hand. He was already planning to move in and help Riot finish of the woman then the two of them could find and kill the fourth attacker. But before he could even rack the pump action for a new shell he saw movement out of the corner of his right eye a split second before something hit him from the side and he was slammed into the wall forcing the air out of his lungs and stunning him. Then before he even had time to process this something that felt like a hammer hit the right side of his jaw jerking his head sideways as his shotgun was ripped from his grip then he was lifted up off the ground from a second hammer blow too his stomach causing him to fall to his hands and knees. Red and black spots were flashing before his eye's and his vision was further blurred from tears that had started to form. He didn't know what was happening the attack was so fast and fierce he didn't have time to think but his instincts were screaming for him to fight.

Even years later when he thought back to this moment he could never remember grabbing his hunting knife from his boot but he could remember swiping it in front of himself first from left to right then back again. He could also remember hearing the high pitch squeal as the edge of his blade scrapped against the ceramic plate. And while his counter attack hadn't done any actual damage to his attacker it was enough to get his attacker to back off a little and give him some breathing room. He managed to push himself back up so that he was kneeling position once he was up he concentrated on wiping away his tears so he could see. He continued to push himself up onto his feet using the wall for support all the while making sure to keep his right arm raised and his knife parallel to his left forearm with the edge of his blade pointed towards his attacker.

While he struggled to get back on his feet his attacker had backed up several feet and examined the two slashes in the cloth covering his stomach, both cuts would have gutted the man if not for his armor plate. The man still had his assault rifle it looked like it a M4 it was slung over his left shoulder and the man also had a pistol holstered high on his right side so it have to be drawn with his left hand. He didn't know why this man hadn't used one of his guns but he knew that between the beating he just took and the man's body armor there was no way he could take the man down with a knife without getting shot and most likely killed. The man looked up at him then the man reached up and took off his helmet then his mask.

The man was roughly the same height as he was but with just how thickly built the man was the man could easily have a hundred pounds or more on him and the man had short cropped hair. But what really caught his attention was that even though two of his comrades where dead at his feet and a third being attacked just a few feet away he was completely relaxed, he even had an amused look on his face like it was a game.

"Not bad kid you were able to counter attack even after taking hits like that, not bad at all." Then the man's smile turned predatory. "Then again you are the kid that dropped Johnson and the one who caught us with our pants down like a bunch of idiots tonight. So I guess I shouldn't too surprised. Hell given some more actual experience you might just become a real challenge, but unfortunately for you your still a novice and this is where your experience ends." The man's smile grew showing his teeth chuckling as he reached for the strap of his rifle. But instead of the man trying to shoot him like he expected the man slid his rifle off of his shoulder and tossed it into Kelly's room then raised his fists and took a fighting stance.

"Jackson! Jackson just shoot the kid and get this dog off me!" The woman screamed at the man as she finally managed to get Riot to let go of her shoulder by punching him in the eye. But the fox retaliated by biting her fist the next it came his way but he didn't get a good hold and she managed to pull her hand away.

"Shut your mouth if that little mutt can kill you then you shouldn't be one of us and you know full well there's only one way out for you now. So if you can't save yourself then just give that mutt your throat and be done with it." Jackson said dismissively not looking away from him even for a moment making it very obvious that Jackson didn't care about what happened to the woman. "As for you kid come at me and show me what your made of."

His jaw was throbbing and his gut aced but he was getting strength back into his legs. He knew he shouldn't play into this Jackson guy's game but he didn't have a choice if he didn't play Jackson's game he would simply shoot him. The only chance he had was too by some miracle beat this guy in hand to hand, he couldn't beat Jackson with strength but maybe just maybe with his knife he could beat him with speed. But he didn't have any experience in knife fighting and while his dad and his dad's army buddy's had taught him to fight it had been seven years since he had a proper sparing match and the only real fighting experience he had since was with schoolyard bullies. But he knew that he had two choices he could try and dance around this guy keeping out of his reach and give him a number of quick cuts and let blood loss be what drops him. But with his lack of experience and the gun shots he could hear from the main room a prolonged fight wouldn't end well for him. Or option two he could try and sneak past this Jackson's guard and go for his throat ending this quickly, but he knew Jackson would be expecting something like that so he'd have to knock him off balance first if he wanted to get a shot at his throat and the first thing that came to mind was going for Jackson's legs. If he got Jackson's legs he'd throw him off balance that combined with the pain would hopefully be enough to buy him an opening in Jackson's defenses.

He straightened up as much as he could before switching his knife to his right hand so that the point of the blade pointed at the ground and took a fighting stance. After a few seconds of watching each other he feinted with his right hand and Jackson leaned to the left, in response he followed through with a left punch forcing Jackson to duck low and back to the right, so he quickly slashed his blade towards the Jackson's face forcing Jackson to lean backwards and too raise his arms to shield his face. Since Jackson chose to lean back to avoid his knife Jackson not only threw himself off balance but it left his legs completely exposed. Seeing this he turned his slash into a stab mid swing driving the point of his blade down towards Jackson's thigh. Then the Jackson's hand suddenly shot out grabbing his wrist stopping his knife no more then an inch from Jackson's thigh. He was caught completely by surprise that Jackson was fast enough to catch his hand like that but he didn't hesitate too swing his left fist hoping that even a slight punch would be enough throw Jackson further off balance and that it would regain him some of the advantage he'd just lost. But just like with his right hand Jackson caught his left wrist mid-air. So now Jackson had a firm grip on both of his wrists and Jackson was using him to steady himself as he took a step back to regain his balance.

During his attack Jackson's smile had disappeared but now that the man had a firm hold on him Jackson's spine chilling smile was back. "Nice boxing moves 'Tyson' if you had been fighting anyone else that little trick of yours would have worked. But now I've got both your hands so what are you going to do now?"

He felt his eyes widened which seemed to only encourage Jackson but his eyes hadn't widened out of fear but from surprise. Jackson hadn't realized that the fighting stance he had taken was an MMA stance not a boxing stance, if Jackson thought that he was just a boxer he still had a chance. Now it was his turn to smile which caused Jackson's own smile to falter. But he didn't want to give Jackson any time to think about it so he quickly stepped inside of Jackson's guard and hooked his left leg around Jackson's right leg then used his leg to knock Jackson's knee out from under him. And as he did Jackson let go of his left hand and gripped his shoulder in an attempt to steady himself. But he wasn't going to let that happen he shifted his stance and grabbed Jackson's belt with his left hand and rolled his weight into a sloppy but effective hip throw tossing Jackson several feet so that he landed hard right on the panel concealing the basement trapdoor.

Once he had thrown Jackson he backed off and raised his hand taking a defensive stance since he fully expected Jackson to pop right back up and attack. But Jackson didn't he just laid there apparently stunned he saw this and knew it could be his chance to finish this fight, but he didn't press the apparent advantage he was too afraid that it was some kind of trick and any attack he made would only get him caught just like before. But after a few moments Jackson was still laying there and he was starting to realize that Jackson really was stunned he started weighing pros and cons and had started to hesitantly step forward but as he did Jackson started to roll over onto his knees.

Jackson managed to get himself up into a kneeling position he looked up at him and growled. "You just fucked up kid. You should have finished me when you had the chance because now I'm done playing with you." Jackson glared up at him and Jackson's eyes were filled with hatred and were promising him a painful death. At the same time Jackson braced his legs like he was getting ready to charge forward. So in response he widened and lowered his own stance so Jackson would have a harder time knocking him over and he kept arms up and knife ready to protect his midsection and possibly counter attack.

Just as he suspected Jackson launched himself forward rushing right at him. He slashed his knife in front himself trying to cut Jackson's face but Jackson simply raised his arm and blocked the strike with his forearm. At the same time Jackson grabbed and twisted his arm making him yell in pain and drop his knife. Then he got the wind knocked out of him as Jackson yanked him forward and drove his knee into his gut. As he doubled over Jackson delivered a left hook to the right side of his face then before he could completely registered the first hit Jackson punched him in the eye with his right fist. He raised his arms to try and protect his face and head from further attacks but once he had Jackson hammered his ribs with five quick but painful jabs. During which he manged to trapped Jackson's right arm and tried to deliver his own right hook but just like before Jackson grabbed his fist mid-air then Jackson head butted him causing red lights to flash before his eyes and stagger back as blood poured from his nose. He was still staggering back from Jackson's head butt so he didn't see the uppercut coming his way but it felt like yet another sledgehammer blow to his jaw and it lifted him off his feet knocking out what little breath he had managed to regain after being kneed.

Every bit of his face and head hurt, his vision was blurred again, his ears were ringing, and he was having a hard time breathing due to the pain in his ribs and gut and the fact that his nose already felt like it was swelling shut. He numbly brought his hand up to lightly touch his nose before jerking his hand away as pain flared in his nose then he started blinking his eyes trying to clear his vision. His vision was clearing rather quickly but he was having a hard time moving he had tried and failed to get up.

He saw Jackson make a 'is that all you got' gestured with his arms before bending down and picking up his hunting knife off the floor. Then Jackson started walking lazily towards him saying. "Well like I said your a novice but I do have to give it to you you put up a pretty good fight." Then Jackson knelt down on his chest putting a lot of presser on his solarplex making it even harder to breath. "But I think it's time to end this." And in one swift motion Jackson raised his knife then plunged it down towards him.

He just barely managed to cross his arms in front of himself catching Jackson's arm and stopping the blade about five inches from his throat. But all he had really managed to do was buy himself time since Jackson was using both hands to push the knife down and was so much stronger then him. He was using every bit of strength he still had in him but ever so slowly the knife was getting closer and closer to his throat and just to make it worse Jackson was smiling again obviously enjoying his fear and panic. There was no way out of this there was nothing that he could do to get out of this so in what he figured would be his last act he forced out forced out a strangled shout. "Judy! Run!" His shout wasn't nearly as loud as he wanted but he could only hope it was loud enough for Judy to hear.

But Jackson gave a dark insane laugh and said. "Oh it's far too late for the rabbit to do that. So just be a good little boy and die." He growled both out of defiance for Jackson's remark and because he felt a sting as the tip of the blade cut into the skin over his adams apple.


End file.
